Hobart Hurricanes hold their nerve to keep back-to-back dreams alive

Hobart Hurricanes kept their title defence alive amid wet and slippery conditions at Ninja Stadium after a nerve-jangling victory over Melbourne Stars in a truncated Knockout final.

Stars' target was reduced to 85 runs off seven overs and they appeared set to fall well short until a very late assault by Hilton Cartwright gave them hope. But Cartwright could not hit the needed boundary off the final ball as Stars' season ended in heartbreak.

There were fears that the match would be abandoned without a ball being bowled after rain lashed Hobart through the afternoon and evening. But the weather cleared before the cut-off time and a 10-over per side match eventuated.

After Beau Webster's 47 off 26 balls lifted Hurricanes to 114 for 5, Stars were 9 for 1 after two overs when rain threatened to again spoil the party. With five overs needed to ensure a result, Stars were anxious but play did restart even though rain continued to fall.

Hurricanes will face Sydney Sixers at the SCG on Friday, with the winner to play Perth Scorchers in Sunday's final at Optus Stadium.

With rain falling, Stars were rocked early when Tom Rogers was knocked over on Riley Meredith's first delivery in the second over. But heavier rain caused a brief delay before play resumed much to the delight of Stars.

Stars needed to be at 57 after five overs to be ahead of DLS, with just two wickets down, and Joe Clarke powered them closer to the target with consecutive boundaries off Meredith only to hole out on the next ball.

Sam Harper, who earlier in the day was named BBL player of the tournament, retired out early in the sixth over after struggling for fluency with Glenn Maxwell replacing him.

Maxwell smashed Rishad Hossain for a slog sweep into the crowd, but he could not reprise heroics at the end of a tough individual season. Stars needed a miracle with 26 runs needed in the final over.

Their finals hopes seemingly ended when Marcus Stoinis fell with 19 runs still needed off four balls. But Cartwright hit consecutive boundaries followed by a six to set up a grandstand finish only for Mitchell Owen to bowl a superb yorker which Cartwright could only manage to hit for a single.

There had been grave fears of a washout, but things moved quickly with play finally starting 90 minutes after schedule. After being sent in, Hurricanes needed to launch from the get go although that was business as usual for Owen.

But the pressure was on Owen, who did not make Australia's T20 World Cup squad having struggled to back up his breakout season last year. Owen started brightly by launching the third delivery of the innings over the deep midwicket boundary, but it was once again all too brief after he was later in the over well stumped by Harper.

Webster looked in good touch with a second ball boundary as Hurricanes reached 24 for 1 after the reduced two-over powerplay. But they were dragged back in the middle overs with Webster unable to get hold of legspinner Mitchell Swepson.

Hurricanes seemed unlikely to reach 100 before a handy cameo from Nikhil Chaudhary gave them momentum at the death. Webster regained his touch in the nick of time after smashing a trio of sixes in the last over to lift Hurricanes to what appeared a competitive total.

Stars had been in a strong position after a brilliant two-over spell from Swepson, who conceded just 12 singles. He was unlucky not to claim the wicket of Ben McDermott after a dropped catch at long-on by Maxwell, who also uncharacteristically spilt a regulation chance in the previous match against Scorchers.

Even though conditions were wet, Stars were sloppy in the field with Tom Curran dropping a simple chance at cover to reprieve Chaudhary, who then blasted consecutive sixes. Curran was unable to redeem himself with the ball in a horror final over that cost 21 runs.