Sydney Thunder

The Sydney Thunder are an Australian franchise professional cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League.[2][3] Along with the Sydney Sixers, the Thunder are the successors of the New South Wales Blues who played in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The team's home ground is Sydney Showground Stadium.

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Sydney Thunder (WBBL).

Sydney Thunder
Personnel
CaptainAustralia Jason Sangha
Australia Chris Green (Acting)
CoachAustralia Trevor Bayliss
Team information
Colours  Lime Green
Founded2011
Home groundSydney Showground Stadium
CapacityApprox. 21,500[1]
History
BBL wins1 (BBL05)
Official websiteSydney Thunder

T20 kit

Seasons

History

Along with the Sydney Sixers, the Sydney Thunder are the successors of the New South Wales Blues who played in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The NSW Cricket board unanimously decided on lime green as the team's colour, though other colours were considered, and rejected as being too close to other Sydney sports teams.[2] Cricket Australia did not allow Cricket NSW to use the sky blue colour traditionally associated with New South Wales sports teams.

The team made their debut in the 2011-12 Big Bash League season – the inaugural season of the Big Bash League. The team performed poorly in its first years in the competition, finishing last in each of its first three seasons and second last in its fourth season.

From 2011 to 2014, the Thunder's home ground was Stadium Australia in Sydney Olympic Park.[4] The team played their final two games of the 2014-15 Big Bash League season at Sydney Showground Stadium after they were unable to use Stadium Australia due to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup association football tournament. In June 2015, the Thunder announced they would leave Stadium Australia and play all home games at Sydney Showground Stadium until the 2024–25 BBL season.[1]

The 2015–16 Big Bash League season marked the first year in which the Thunder finished in the top half of the table, finishing 4th overall. Having won the first three games of the season and boasting a squad including Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja and Jacques Kallis, the Thunder soon became the favourites to win the tournament. However, the Thunder lost their following four games and were in danger of missing the finals. In their final game of the 2015–16 Big Bash League season, the Thunder defeated the Sixers for only the second time in their history to book a finals berth. The Thunder faced the Adelaide Strikers at Adelaide Oval in the first semi final, winning convincingly. The Thunder then faced the Stars in the Finals the Melbourne Stars. The final was played at Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 January 2016 and resulted in the Thunder defeating the Melbourne Stars by 3 wickets. Michael Hussey announced his retirement from domestic cricket during BBL05, at the conclusion of the tournament he was announced the club's Director of Cricket, responsible for managing recruitment, contracts, facilities and scouting for the BBL squad. The Thunder were the most watched sports team in Australia during 2015-16 with an average TV audience of 1.2m.

Shane Watson was elected to captain the side in 2016.[5][6] Watson captained the Thunder for three seasons, failing to qualify for the finals in each of them.

In 2019, Callum Ferguson was named as the new Thunder captain, subsequently qualifying for the finals during his two seasons in charge. Chris Green and Jason Sangha shared the captaincy role for the COVID-19 affected 2021-22 season as the Thunder were knocked out in their first finals game after finishing 3rd on the ladder.

In a league game on 16 December 2022 against the Adelaide Strikers, the Thunder were dismissed for 15 in 5.5 overs, breaking the record for both the shortest completed innings and the lowest score in one in all men's professional T20 matches.[7]

Role in the community

MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup

The MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup gives cricket players from seven cultural backgrounds the chance to experience the fun and excitement of Twenty20 cricket, whilst representing their community. The winning team from each community cricket round will represent their country in the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Semi Finals, with the two winners of the semi-finals playing off in a Grand Final prior to a Sydney Thunder match at Spotless Stadium.

Thunder Bus

The Thunder Bus travels around schools and cricket club in Sydney and Regional NSW, it has an interactive quiz and inflatable nets. The Thunder Bus directly engaged with 100,000 children aged between 5- 12 during this period and was seen by over 1 Million people.

Personnel

Sydney Thunder, like every other team, had a salary cap of $1 million for the first season of the Big Bash League, but in that season they spent almost half of the salary cap on the explosive opening combination of Chris Gayle and David Warner. Gayle was pursued by Perth Scorchers but he rejected an offer of $250,000 to stay with the New South Wales team.[8][9]

Current squad
S/N Name Nationality Date of birth (age) Batting style Bowling style Notes
Batters
3Sam Whiteman Australia (1992-03-19) 19 March 1992Left-handedLeft-arm medium
6Alex Hales England (1989-01-05) 5 January 1989Right-handedRight-arm mediumOverseas Draft Pick
9Oliver Davies Australia (2000-10-15) 15 October 2000Right-handedRight-arm off break
23Jason Sangha Australia (1999-09-08) 8 September 1999Right-handedRight arm leg spin
31David Warner Australia (1986-10-27) 27 October 1986Left-handedRight arm leg breakCricket Australia Contract
32Rilee Rossouw South Africa (1989-10-09) 9 October 1989Left-handedRight arm off breakOverseas Draft Pick
45Blake Nikitaras Australia (2000-04-29) 29 April 2000Left-handed-
49Alex Ross Australia (1992-04-17) 17 April 1992Right-handedRight-arm off-break
All-rounders
5Ben Cutting Australia (1987-01-30) 30 January 1987Right-handedRight-arm medium
93Chris Green Australia (1993-10-01) 1 October 1993Right-handedRight-arm off break
95Daniel Sams Australia (1992-10-27) 27 October 1992Right-handedLeft-arm fast medium
Wicket-Keepers
22Matt Gilkes Australia (1999-08-21) 21 August 1999Left-handedLeft-arm medium
27Baxter Holt Australia (1999-10-21) 21 October 1999Right-handedRight-arm medium
Pace Bowlers
7Ross Pawson Australia (1994-11-15) 15 November 1994Right-handedRight-arm fast mediumLocal Replacement Player
28Gurinder Sandhu Australia (1993-06-14) 14 June 1993Right-handedRight arm fast medium
35Brendan Doggett Australia (1994-05-03) 3 May 1994Right-handedRight-arm medium-fast
44Nathan McAndrew Australia (1993-07-14) 14 July 1993Right-handedRight-arm fast medium
-Ryan Hadley Australia (1998-11-17) 17 November 1998Right-handedRight-arm medium-fastLocal Replacement Player
Spin Bowlers
17Tanveer Sangha Australia (2001-11-26) 26 November 2001Right-handedRight arm leg spin
72Usman Qadir Pakistan (1993-08-10) 10 August 1993Left-handedRight-arm leg spinInternational Replacement Player
77Joel Davies Australia (2003-10-28) 28 October 2003Left-handedSlow left arm orthodox
-Toby Gray Australia (2001-10-16) 16 October 2001Right-handedRight-arm leg spinLocal Replacement Player

Year-by-year record
Year Finishing Position Finals
2011–12 8th DNQ
2012–13 8th DNQ
2013–14 8th DNQ
2014–15 7th DNQ
2015–16 4th Champions
2016–17 8th DNQ
2017–18 6th DNQ
2018–19 6th DNQ
2019–20 5th 3rd
2020–21 3rd 4th
2021–22 3rd 4th
2022–23 4th 5th

Captains list
[10] Name Years captain Captained Won Lost Tied[*] NR %[**]
1 David Warner 2011 1 1 0 0 0 100.00%
2 Daniel Smith 2011–2012 6 1 5 0 0 16.66%
3 Chris Rogers 2012 6 0 6 0 0 0%
4 Chris Gayle 2013 2 0 2 0 0 0%
5 Michael Hussey 2013–2016 23 9 14 0 0 39.13%
6 Chris Hartley 2015 2 0 1 0 1 0%
7 Shane Watson 2016–2019 31 13 17 0 1 43.33%
8 Ben Rohrer 2016 2 0 2 0 0 0%
9 Callum Ferguson 2019–2021 32 16 14 1 1 53.22%
10 Usman Khawaja 2021–2022 2 1 1 0 0 50.00%
11 Chris Green 2021– 24 13 11 0 0 54.16%
12 Jason Sangha 2021- 4 2 2 0 0 50.00%

^* Includes matches determined by a Super Over ^** Ties counted as half a win

Honours

Domestic

Sydney Smash

When the league began in 2011, Cricket Australia decided they would place two teams in Sydney. With the core group of players for both sides coming from the New South Wales cricket team, this rivalry automatically becomes widely anticipated in Sydney. In the first four seasons of the BBL the Thunder lost all seven Sydney Derby games to the Sixers. However, in the first match of the fifth Big Bash League, the Thunder scored their first win against the Sixers, breaking the hoodoo set in place by their rivals in Magenta. The season also marked the first time the Thunder beat the Sixers in both games contested during the season.[11] As at 2020, all subsequent seasons have had one win by each team.

List of Sydney Smash matches
No. Date Winner Margin Venue Attendance MoM
1
8 January 2012
Sixers
17 Runs (D/L)ANZ Stadium31,262Mitchell Starc
2
8 December 2012
Sixers
7 WicketsSCG15,279Brad Haddin
3
30 December 2012
Sixers
4 WicketsANZ Stadium20,986Daniel Hughes
4
21 December 2013
Sixers
6 WicketsSCG18,180Nic Maddinson
5
25 January 2014
Sixers
8 WicketsANZ Stadium25,726Nathan Lyon
6
27 December 2014
Sixers
16 RunsANZ Stadium32,823Aiden Blizzard
7
22 January 2015
Sixers
4 WicketsSCG36,487Jordan Silk
8
17 December 2015
Thunder
36 RunsSpotless Stadium18,287Michael Hussey
9
16 January 2016
Thunder
46 RunsSCG38,456Shane Watson
10
20 December 2016
Sixers
9 WicketsSpotless Stadium21,798Moises Henriques
11
14 January 2017
Thunder
8 WicketsSCG39,756Fawad Ahmed
12
19 December 2017
Thunder
5 WicketsSpotless Stadium21,589Shane Watson
13
13 January 2018
Sixers
8 WicketsSCG36,458Chris Green
14
24 December 2018
Thunder
21 RunsSpotless Stadium10,508Jos Buttler
15
2 February 2019
Sixers
9 Wickets (D/L)SCG34,385Sean Abbott
16
28 December 2019
Sixers
Super OverSCG35,296Tom Curran
17
18 January 2020
Thunder
4 Runs (D/L)Giants Stadium15,476Chris Morris
18
13 January 2021
Sixers
5 Wickets (D/L)Manuka OvalSteve O'Keefe
19
21 January 2021
Thunder
46 RunsAdelaide OvalAlex Hales

Sponsors
Season Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Back sponsor Breast sponsor Sleeve sponsor
2011–12 KooGa Cudo
2012–13 Webjet
2013–14 University of Canberra
2014–15 Majestic Athletic Mazda Spot Jobs
2015–16 Homeworld
2016–17
2017–18
2018–19 Homestar
2019–20
2020-21
2021-22 Nike Homestar Sixt What's Your Plan B?
2022-23

Imported players

The following players have been imported to play for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League:[12]

Sydney Thunder imported players in the Big Bash League
BBLPlayerCountry
BBL11Saqib MahmoodEngland
BBL10 – BBL11Sam BillingsEngland
BBL09 – Alex HalesEngland
BBL10Adam MilneNew Zealand
BBL06Carlos BrathwaiteWest Indies
BBL09

Chris Morris

 South Africa
BBL08Jos ButlerEngland
BBL04Cameron DelportSouth Africa
BBL08Anton DevcichNew Zealand
BBL03Tillakaratne DilshanSri Lanka
BBL01Fidel EdwardsWest Indies
BBL01 – BBL02Chris GayleWest Indies
BBL02Martin GuptillNew Zealand
BBL08Chris JordanEngland
BBL04 – BBL05Jacques KallisSouth Africa
BBL04 +Craig KieswetterEngland
BBL07Mitchell McClenaghanNew Zealand
BBL01Azhar MahmoodPakistan
BBL03Ajantha MendisSri Lanka
BBL03 and BBL06Eoin MorganIreland/England
BBL05Henry NichollsNew Zealand
BBL02Matt PriorEngland
BBL08Joe RootEngland
BBL04Jason RoyEngland
BBL05Andre RussellWest Indies
BBL06James VinceEngland
BBL03Chris WoakesEngland

+= Did not play a game

See also

References
  1. "Sydney Thunder Announce Spotless Stadium As New Home Ground". Sydney Thunder. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
  2. Wu, Andrew (15 March 2011). "Sydney Thunder to clash with Sixers in Big Bash". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  3. "New Twenty20 Big Bash league to feature teams in pink, orange and purple as tradition is abandoned". Fox Sports (Australia). 6 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  4. "BBL team names and colours". 6 April 2011. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  5. WATSON REPLACES FUSSEY AS THUNDER CAPTAIN
  6. Watson to skipper Thunder
  7. Lavalette, Tristan (16 December 2022). "15 all out! Thunder sink to record low as Strikers soar to 124-run win". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  8. "Chris Gayle signs for Sydney Thunder in Big Bash League". Herald Sun. 30 June 2011.
  9. GAYLE JOINS WARNER AT THUNDER Bigbash.com.au. Archived 5 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Big Bash League - Sydney Thunder / Records / Most matches as captain". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN Sports Media Ltd. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  11. "Thunder Nation Made Proud At Spotless". Sydney Thunder.
  12. "Sydney Thunder Website".
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