Sydney Thunder

Additional players list

History

2011-12

David Warner was named the captain of Sydney Thunder for the inaugural edition of the BBL. The iconic Australian player slammed 102* in the franchise’s first game against Melbourne Stars. However, that was the southpaw’s only game in the season and Daniel Smith led the side in remaining matches.

Thunder managed just two wins from seven matches and finished at the bottom of the points table in the league stage. West Indies swashbuckling opener Chris Gayle (252) was their highest-run getter in the first season, while pacer Scott Coyte finished with the most wickets for the franchise (8).

2012-13

David Warner moved to Sydney Sixers and Michael Clarke was named as their top-signing for the new season. Opener Chris Rogers was named the captain of the franchise for the 2012-13 season where he led the team in six games but they lost all the fixtures.

As a result, West Indies batter Chris Gayle was given the charge in the last two games against Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Stars but the move didn’t work as Thunder lost all of their eight league matches that season.

2013-14

Star Australian batter Michael Hussey was appointed as the captain of Sydney Thunder for the 2013-14 season, however, the club could manage just a solitary win against Melbourne Renegades in the third edition of BBL. Hussey was the top-scorer of the team with 258 runs in eight matches, while Gurinder Sandhu picked the most wickets (10) for the team in that season. It was the third time in a row where Thunder finished at the bottom of the league stage.

2014-15

Sydney Thunder progressed from their record in the two previous two seasons, managing two wins in eight matches and a seventh position on the table. The wins came against Brisbane Heat at Stadium Australia and Perth Scorchers at the WACA. Aiden Blizzard was the highest run-getter (240) for the teams and with eight wickets, Sandhu finished as the leading wicket-taker of the team in successive seasons.

2015-16

The fifth season of the BBL was the turning point in Sydney Thunder’s journey and their persistence with Michael Hussey as their captain. After enduring a tough phase in the first four seasons, Thunder managed to break into the top four in the league stage with four wins and as many losses.

They beat Adelaide Strikers by eight wickets in the first semi-final thanks to an unbeaten sparkling ton by Usman Khawaja (104 runs in 59 balls) that helped Thunder chase 160 with 14 balls to spare.

Khawaja starred with the bat in the final against Melbourne Stars as he scored a 40-ball 70 in a 177-run chase. Shane Watson (2/17) was the pick of the bowlers for Thunder in their three-wicket win in the marquee clash.

The spotlight of the final was around the Hussey brothers as captains of the two teams. Mike Hussey was leading Thunder, while his brother David Hussey led the charge of the Stars.

Khawaja finished the tournament as the second highest run-getter – 345 runs in just four innings at a strike rate of 163.50. Pace bowler Clint McKay claimed the most wickets in the season – 18 at 15.22 and an economy of 8.09.

2016-17

All-rounder Shane Watson was named the new captain of the franchise after Hussey retired from all formats of the game after winning the BBL title last season. Sydney Thunder didn’t match up to their success and once again slumped to eighth position in the league stage with three wins and five defeats.

2017-18

The number of matches in the 2017-18 increased from 8 to 10 league matches for each team. The Shane Watson-led team didn’t qualify for the semi-finals with a six spot finish in the league. Watson (331) was the highest run-scorer and leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed picked the most wickets (12).

2018-19

For the second consecutive season Sydney Thunder ended on the sixth spot even after the maximum league matches extended to 14 games for a team. Even with the inclusion of England’s star players like Jos Buttler and Joe Root in the squad, Thunder could muster only six victories in the season.

With 442 runs in 14 innings, Callum Ferguson scored the most runs for the team in 2018-19 BBL. Daniel Sams picked 15 wickets in 13 innings at an average of 21.06 and economy rate of 8.77 to finish with most wickets for Thunder.

2019-20

Ferguson took over the captaincy reins from Watson who announced BBL retirement in April 2019. Spin bowler Chris Green was named the deputy to Ferguson in the leadership role. Sydney Thunder was a force to be reckoned under Ferguson’s captaincy tenure.

In the BBL 2019-20, although Thunder finished fifth in the league stage but were eligible to qualify for the knockouts under the new rule of BBL finals from that particular season onwards.

Thunder defeated Hobart Hurricanes in the Eliminator game followed by an eight-run win over Adelaide Strikers in the Knockout clash. However, they lost to Glenn Maxwell’s Melbourne Stars by 28 runs in the Challenger to finish their campaign at third place in the season.

2020-21

England batter Alex Hales for the second season in a row finished as team’s highest run-maker with 543 runs in 15 games at 38.78 and a strike rate of 161.60 with three half-centuries and one hundred. Leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha chipped in with 21 wickets in 15 games and was Thunder’s most wicket-taker in the season.

Sydney Thunder qualified for the BBL finals but lost the knockout match to Brisbane Heat by seven wickets. Their top order comprising Hales, Khawaja and Ferguson missed the big runs to put their side into a commanding total. Wicketkeeper Sam Billings (34 runs in 24 balls) and all-rounder Ben Cutting (34 runs in 18 balls) put Thunder to a sizeable score of 158. Sam Heazlett (74 runs in 49 balls) and Jimmy Peirson (43 in 24 balls) steered Brisbane Heat in the chase with balls remaining.

2021-22

Usman Khawaja was appointed as Sydney Thunder for the 2021-22 season, however, he was unavailable for the most part of the league owing to the Ashes duties for Australia and joined back the squad in their last two matches, including the knockout round. In the absence of Khawaja, Chris Green (10 matches) and Jason Sanghan (3 matches) led the side in the league games.

With nine wins out of 14 matches, Thunder sealed a third spot in the league stage but for the second time they were knocked out in the Knockout fixture by Adelaide Strikers. Jason Sangha was the leading scorer for the team with 445 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 132.05, while Daniel Sams picked 19 wickets which was the most by any bowler in that season.

Sydney Thunder Team Management

Head Coach: Trevor Bayliss

Team Sponsors

Homestar Finance are proud Principal Partners of Sydney Thunder and are the naming rights partner of the Homestar Finance Sydney Thunder Indigenous XI. HomeWorld is the major sponsor of Sydney Thunder in both BBL and WBBL tournaments.

Chamberlain, SIXT, GambleAware, Sydney Water, Transport for NSW, What’s Your Plan B, Charter Hall, Sydney Olympic Park and Ticket Master are the other sponsors or various partners of Sydney Thunder for the 2022-23 BBL season.

Sydney Thunder Batting Stats

Sydney Thunder Bowling Stats

Sydney Thunder Team Stats

Fanbase

The city of Sydney has two franchises participating in the BBL every year - Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder. Consequently, the fanbase is divided between the two teams and Thunder has managed an aggregate following of nearly 2 million followers across various social media platforms.

Sydney Thunder’s followers on prominent social media pages

Twitter: 156.1K

Facebook: 1.72 M

Instagram: 207K

Performances over the years (extended table)

Sydney Thunder 2020/21 squad - Players to watch out

#1 David Warner

David Warner signed a two-year deal with Thunder to mark his return to the BBL after nine years. The star Australian batter last played in the league in 2013 and is expected to play at least five matches for the team after the completion of Australia’s bilateral home series against South Africa on January 17.

The 36-year-old was the player of the tournament in Australia’s title-winning campaign in the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE, amassing 289 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 146.70. Overall, Warner has scored 11080 runs in 336 T20 matches with 93 fifties and 8 centuries.

#2 Alex Hales

The England batter has displayed some great form with the bat since returning to England’s T20I fold just before the T20 World Cup in Australia. Hales amassed 212 runs in six games in England’s triumphant campaign last month, including a blistering unbeaten 86 against India in the semi-final.

In just three seasons from 2019-2022, Hales became the second highest run-scorer in the history of Sydney Thunder. The opening batter has scored 1502 runs in 45 games at a strike rate of 152.33 with 11 fifties and one century.

Hales scored more than 500 runs in his first two BBL seasons in 2019-20 (576) and 2020-21 (543). With Usman Khawaja’s departure to Brisbane Heat this year, Hales will have the responsibility to attack with big guns at the top order. He is just 316 runs away from leapfrogging Khawaja as Sydney Thunder’s leading run-scorer of all time.

#3 Jason Sangha

The New South Wales player will take over the charge of the team in the 12th edition of the BBL. The 23-year-old finished as the leading run-getter of the team in the previous season with 445 runs in 12 innings.

Sangha has played 25 T20 matches and scored 623 runs at a strike rate of 123.61, including five half-centuries. He scored his career-best 91 not out against Adelaide Strikers last year on the New year's eve in a 22-run win for the Thunder.

Sangha's leadership will be crucial for Sydney Thunder to add a second title to their cabinet.

#4 Rilee Rossouw

The South African has made giant strides this year in the T20 format after staging an international comeback to international cricket and was named in South Africa's T20 World Cup squad. The left-handed batter has scored two hundreds this year, including 109 against Bangladesh at SCG, the fourth fastest hundred in T20 World Cup in 52 balls.

He has amassed 372 runs in T20 Internationals in 2022 with a strike rate of 176.30. With 623 runs in 16 games at a strike rate of 192.28, Rossouw ended as the second most run-scorer in 2022 Vitality Blast.

#5 Gurinder Sandhu

Sandhu is the most experienced bowler in this Thunder side with 58 matches played in the BBL since 2012. He has snapped 59 wickets in the tournament at an average of 26.18 and an economy rate of 7.97.

Sandhu has picked 25 wickets in the death overs (15-20) of BBL at an economy of 10.15. The right-arm pacer was in great form in the latest domestic matches played for Queensland. His 5/41 against Tasmania in a first-class match was the pick of his excellent performances.

The right-arm pacer has picked 62 wickets in 64 T20 matches at 27.12 with the best figures of 4/22.