The Cricketer's in-depth look at the Thunder ahead of the new campaign, including player analysis, strengths, weaknesses, and full squad and fixtures listings
Coach: Trevor Bayliss
Trevor Bayliss joined Sydney Thunder as head coach in June 2021, signing three-year contract. In his maiden season, he steered his side to third place in the regular season table – their third consecutive season in the playoffs – before finishing fourth overall. An experienced head coach both in Australia and abroad, Bayliss won the 2019 Cricket World Cup with England and guided Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles as well as winning BBL01 with Sydney Sixers.
Captain: Jason Sangha
Taking over from Usman Khawaja is batter Jason Sangha, a player who, prior to last season, hadn't featured in the Big Bash since 2018/19 and had just 178 runs to his name. However, the 23-year-old, who skippered Thunder three times in BBL11 in the absence of both Khawaja and Chris Green, has long been identified as having leadership qualities while Kerry O'Keeffe recently labelled him "the best since [Ricky] Ponting".
Overseas stars
Alex Hales: One of Sydney's adopted sons, Hales has scored over 1,500 runs in 45 appearances for Thunder prior to BBL12. He's passed 500 runs twice in his past three seasons and while BBL11 was comparatively lean, he still contributed 383 runs in 13 innings. A powerful opening batter, Hales has scored 1,701 T20 runs at a strike rate of 157.20 in 2022 alone (prior to BBL12) and was a member of trophy-winning teams with England and Trent Rockets.
Rilee Rossouw: The South African didn't set the Big Bash alight when he represented Melbourne Renegades in 2020/21, scoring 105 runs in seven outings, but has since established himself as one of white-ball crickets premier power hitters. Earlier this year, he smashed 623 runs at 47.92, including seven half-centuries, for Somerset in the T20 Blast, form which saw the 33-year-old return to the international stage for the first time since 2016.
Fazalhaq Farooqi: A replacement signing for allrounder David Willey, the Afghanistan quick, who is available for nine matches, will have been unfamiliar to many prior to the 2022 T20 World Cup. However, he performed well in Australian conditions, picking up three wickets and conceding 6.52 runs per over during the tournament. A promising opening bowler, he finished 2022 as Afghanistan's leading T20I wicket-taker, collecting 20 wickets in 16 appearances. He does not, however, match Willey with the bat.
Usman Qadir: A late addition to Thunder's squad, the Pakistan leg-spinner will provide cover for Tanveer Sangha, who is recovering from a stress fracture in his back. The 29-year-old, who has taken 29 wickets in 23 T20Is for Pakistan, is no stranger to the Big Bash, having represented Perth Scorchers on seven occasions in 2018/19. He's also featured in the PSL and CPL.
Sydney Thunder captain Jason Sangha [Mike Owen/Getty Images]
Changes from 2021/22
Mohammad Hasnain and England internationals Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood have left the club, with Rossouw, Qadir and Farooqi taking the overseas slots alongside Hales. Khawaja has moved to Brisbane Heat while Jonathan Cook is also absent from last year's squad.
In addition to their new overseas faces, Sydney Thunder have also signed David Warner on a two-year deal. The batter's most recent BBL outing came back in December 2013 and his availability will be limited by Australia's Test series against South Africa (December 17-January 8).
How did they do in 2021/22?
Sydney Thunder performed strongly in the group stages, winning nine matches from a possible 14 to finish in third position. However, losing two of their final three matches cost them second position – they were pipped by Sydney Sixers on net run rate – and the opportunity to have two shots at reaching the final. In the knockout against Adelaide Strikers, they suffered a six-run loss to finish in fourth position.
Best finish: Champions (BBL05)
BATTING
Power hitters
Sydney Thunder are blessed in this department, with Hales, Jason Sangha and Rossouw all adept at locating the boundary.
Only Ben McDermott and Glenn Maxwell scored more fours than Hales (44) in BBL11 while 12 months earlier, he smashed a huge 30 sixes. Sangha, meanwhile, established himself as a batter to be reckoned with last season, scoring a team-leading 445 runs at a rate of 132.04, including 36 fours and 13 sixes – in his only other BBL campaign, he managed just 178 runs in 10 innings. As for Rossouw, he heads into BBL12 with an impressive record in 2022: 70 per cent of his runs have come from boundaries while his strike rate in excess of 170.
Elsewhere, Oliver Davies, Daniel Sams, Chris Green and Alex Ross all boasted strike rates above 135 in BBL11 while Warner has spent years crafting a reputation as an aggressive opening batter.
Anchor
Jason Sangha could be the person to step into this role. The 23-year-old was very consistent in BBL11, scoring three half-centuries and averaging 49.44, and while he is more than capable of thwacking boundaries, his career strike rate is in the 120s (it crept up to 132 last season), meaning he could be the perfect foil for his more aggressive teammates.
Ross (237 runs, including three half-centuries, at a strike rate of 138.59) could also prove his worth here but is yet to find a settled place in the order. He could open with Hales in Warner's absence, which would ease the pressure on him to fire from the get-go.
Finisher
Sydney Thunder have several options here with young Davies, Green and even Nathan McAndrew all capable of changing a game with the bat. Allrounder Ben Cutting, meanwhile, is a veteran big-hitter – he has nearly as many sixes as fours in T20 cricket and a career strike rate just under 150 – and can comfortably slot in anywhere in the order (he even opened at one stage in BBL11).
However, the standout performer here is Sams. The 30-year-old has scored at least 175 runs in three of his past four BBL seasons, including 191 runs (11 fours and a team-leading 16 sixes) at a rate in excess of 160 in 2021/22.
Problem areas
Losing David Willey (withdrawn) and Sam Billings (drafted by Brisbane Heat) could hurt Thunder. Billings is as useful with the bat as he is with the gloves, scoring over 4,500 runs at a strike rate of 130 across his T20 career. Both Baxter Holt and Matt Gilkes (Thunder's two wicketkeeping options) are yet to match the England international with the bat, which is a blow.
Willey, meanwhile, is a useful pinch-hitter and would have added some flexibility to the XI with his batting and bowling skills. Given none of Hales, Davies, Rossouw, Warner, or Ross bowl, Sams is likely to carry the all-round burden and there could be some big hitters left on the sidelines in order to accommodate enough bowling options.
Alex Hales will be key with the bat [Mike Owen/Getty Images]
BOWLING
Speed merchants
Left-armers Gurinder Sandhu, who had only once previously taken 10 wickets in a BBL season, and Sams were the standout pacers for Thunder in 2021/22, sharing 37 wickets, while McAndrew (13 wickets) also contributed, though he was a trifle expensive.
Farooqi is untested in the Big Bash and relatively new to Australian conditions but established himself as one of Afghanistan's go-to pacers in 2022, taking a team-leading 20 T20I wickets this year while maintaining an economy of 6.77. He will likely bookend the innings for Thunder, with powerplay bowling a particular strong suit.
Cutting and Brendan Doggett offer additional options.
Variation
Tanveer Sangha burst onto the scene with 21 wickets and an economy of 8.08 in his debut season and followed it up in BBL11 with 16 wickets and an economy of 6.86. However, he hasn't featured for New South Wales this season due to a stress fracture in his back, meaning the pressure is on Green and Qadir.
Green, an off-spinner, is not a wicket-taker like Sangha (only once in eight seasons has he taken 10-plus wickets) but is a tidy bowler, boasting an economy of 7.39 across his BBL career. Qadir, a leg-spinner, adds further variety to Thunder's bowling stocks and has 80 wickets in 78 T20s prior to BBL12. However, he didn't set the tournament on fire in 2018/19, picking up six wickets in seven outings and conceding 8.45 runs per over.
Problem areas
Saqib Mahmood and Mohammad Hasnain shared 20 wickets last season – that's quite a big hole for Farooqi, a relatively inexperienced 22-year-old, and the rest of the attack to cover, especially if Sandhu can't replicate his fine form from BBL11 (18 wickets, 7.6 economy).
The uncertainly surrounding Tanveer Sangha's involvement is also a blow, with the 21-year-old usually among the first names on the team sheet. His injury highlights the danger of having so few bowling options – it's worth mentioning Doggett and Cutting bowled 13 overs combined in BBL11 – and another injury or two could seriously hurt Thunder.
Daniel Sams is something of a triple-threat for Thunder [Brett Hemmings/Getty Images]
Who takes the gloves?
Gilkes and Holt are set to do battle for the gloves, with both players spending time behind the stumps as cover for Billings in BBL11. Gilkes is more likely to have a regular spot in the XI: he made 15 appearances in 2021/22, scoring 295 runs (two half-centuries) while Holt featured just three times.
Squad: Oliver Davies, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales, Baxter Holt, Nathan McAndrew, Alex Ross, Rilee Rossouw, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha (c), Tanveer Sangha, David Warner, David Willey (withdrawn), Fazalhaq Farooqi (replacing David Willey, first nine matches only), Ben Cutting, Usman Qadir, Gurinder Sandhu, Sam Whiteman
Fixtures: December 13 – Melbourne Stars (Manuka Oval, 8.15am GMT), December 16 – Adelaide Strikers (Sydney Showground, 9.15am), December 18 – Melbourne Renegades (Marvel Stadium, 8.15am), December 20 – Adelaide Strikers (Adelaide Oval, 8.15am), December 27 – Brisbane Heat (Sydney Showground, 8.15am), December 29 – Brisbane Heat (Metricon Stadium, 7.05am), December 31 – Hobart Hurricanes (Lavington Sports Ground, 4.30am), January 4 – Perth Scorchers (Optus Stadium, 10.15am), January 8 – Sydney Sixers (Sydney Showground, 8.15am), January 13 – Perth Scorchers (Sydney Showground, 7.30am), January 15 – Hobart Hurricanes (Blundstone Arena, 2.40am), January 19 – Melbourne Renegades (Manuka Oval, 8.15am), January 21 – Sydney Sixers (SCG, 8.05am), January 25 – Melbourne Stars (MCG, 8.15am)
Possible starting XI: Alex Hales, Alex Ross, Jason Sangha, Rilee Rossouw, Ben Cutting, Daniel Sams, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Gurinder Sandhu, Fazalhaq Farooqi
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