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
CaptainJason Sangha
Chris Green (Acting)
CoachTrevor 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

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.

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
No. Name Nationality Date of birth (age) Batting style Bowling style Notes
Batters
8Alex Hales England (1989-01-05) 5 January 1989Right-handedRight-arm mediumOverseas draft pick
9Ollie 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
33David Warner Australia (1986-10-27) 27 October 1986Left-handedRight arm leg breakCricket Australia contract
47Blake Nikitaras Australia (2000-04-29) 29 April 2000Left-handed–
50Alex Ross Australia (1992-04-17) 17 April 1992Right-handedRight-arm off-break
All-rounders
94Chris 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
24Matt Gilkes Australia (1999-08-21) 21 August 1999Left-handedLeft-arm medium
Pace Bowlers
29Gurinder Sandhu Australia (1993-06-14) 14 June 1993Right-handedRight arm fast medium
44Nathan McAndrew Australia (1993-07-14) 14 July 1993Right-handedRight-arm medium fast
Spin bowlers
17Tanveer Sangha Australia (2001-11-26) 26 November 2001Right-handedRight arm leg spinInternational

Year-by-year record
Season League position Final position
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

Honours

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 the city. In the first four seasons of the league the Thunder lost all seven Sydney derby games to the Sydney Sixers.

List of Sydney Smash Matches
Date Winner Margin Venue Attendance Player of the match
8 January 2012Sixers17 Runs (D/L)[10]ANZ Stadium31,262Mitchell Starc
8 December 2012Sixers7 wickets[11]SCG15,279Brad Haddin
30 December 2012Sixers4 wickets[12]ANZ Stadium20,986Daniel Hughes
21 December 2013Sixers6 wickets[13]SCG18,180Nic Maddinson
25 January 2014Sixers8 wickets[14]ANZ Stadium25,726Nathan Lyon
27 December 2014Sixers16 runs[15]ANZ Stadium32,823Aiden Blizzard
22 January 2015Sixers4 wickets[16]SCG36,487Jordan Silk
17 December 2015Thunder36 runs[17]Spotless Stadium18,287Michael Hussey
16 January 2016Thunder46 runs[18]SCG38,456Shane Watson
20 December 2016Sixers9 wickets[19]Spotless Stadium21,798Moises Henriques
14 January 2017Thunder8 wickets[20]SCG39,756Fawad Ahmed
19 December 2017Thunder5 wickets[21]Spotless Stadium21,589Shane Watson
13 January 2018Sixers8 wickets[22]SCG36,458Chris Green
24 December 2018Thunder21 runs[23]Spotless Stadium10,508Jos Buttler
2 February 2019Sixers9 wickets[24] (D/L)SCG34,385Sean Abbott
28 December 2019SixersSuper Over[25]SCG35,296Tom Curran
18 January 2020Thunder4 runs[26] (D/L)Giants Stadium15,476Chris Morris
13 January 2021Sixers5 wickets[27] (D/L)Manuka OvalSteve O'Keefe
21 January 2021Thunder46 runs[28]Adelaide OvalAlex Hales
26 December 2021Sixers30 runs[29] (D/L)Sydney Showground StadiumDan Christian
15 January 2022Sixers60 runs[30]Sydney Cricket GroundSteve O'Keefe

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
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