January 31: BBL Qualifier - Melbourne Stars v Sydney Sixers, Melbourne

Our XI: Josh Phillippe, Marcus Stoinis, Steven Smith, Daniel Hughes, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques, Adam Zampa, Ben Dwarshius, Josh Hazlewood, Haris Rauf

NOTE: For the Stars, Sandeep Lamichhane has left for international duty and Hilton Cartwright is out with a broken finger. For the Sixers, Tom Curran has returned to national duty.

Captain: Marcus Stoinis

Stoinis had a blast against the Sixers earlier in the season, making the highest individual score in BBL history with 147 - that was on the same ground. He also scored 62 when they met the second time. So, despite the addition of Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon to the Sixers attack since, Stoinis will back himself to do well again.

Vice-captain: Steven Smith

Just two games old in the BBL, but Smith has already played a match-wining knock of 66* anchoring the chase against the Melbourne Renegades. In a big match, experience counts for a lot, and his knowhow of the MCG will surely help.

Hot picks

Haris Rauf

The Rauf Express is back and in perfect time to bolster the Stars attack. Rauf has the best strike rate for bowlers in the BBL who have bowled a minimum of ten overs, and having played considerably less, he still finds himself in the top-five leading wicket-tackers this season. A must-have.

Josh Phillippe

The breakout star of the season and the Sixers leading run-scorer will be itching to make things right against the Stars. He failed the last two times they met, but with two back-to-back 50-plus scores coming into the game, you wouldn't want to bet against him.

Glenn Maxwell

Maxwell's constantly changing batting position, that sometimes goes all the way down to No. 5, should worry the fantasy person in you, but in a crunch game, with your leading wicket-taker Curran out, a 50-plus score in Melbourne already this season, and a place in the finals on the line, Maxwell, the Stars second highest run-getter so far, will likely put on a big show.

Value picks

Ben Dwarshius: With 16 wickets so far in the tournament, Dwarshius has complemented Curran splendidly this season. With a three-game losing streak, the Stars are short on confidence coming into the qualifier, and with Curran out, Dwarshius will be the main wicket-taking threat and he will be eager to make amends for the Stoinis show the last time the two teams met in Melbourne.

Moises Henriques: Henriques hit a 31-ball 72 with eight sixes the last time these two teams met. He would love to watch those highlights again, but it's his big game experience that will also be valuable as both teams battle it out to reach the final.

Point to note

Bat first, score big-ish, win. That's been the case in three of the last four BBL games at this MCG. So watch out for the toss, and ideally pick a captain from the team batting first.