# Sydney Thunder

The Sydney Thunder is an Australian franchise professional cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League. Along with the Sydney Sixers, the Thunder is the successor to the New South Wales Blues which played in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The team's home ground is Sydney Showground Stadium.

## History

Along with the Sydney Sixers, the Sydney Thunder is the successor to the New South Wales Blues which 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. Cricket Australia did not allow Cricket NSW to use the sky blue colour traditionally associated with New South Wales sports teams.
The team made its debut in the 2011-12 Big Bash League season – the inaugural season of the Big Bash League. The team performed poorly in its first few 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. The team played its final two games of the 2014-15 Big Bash League season at Sydney Showground Stadium after it was unable to use Stadium Australia due to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup association football tournament. In June 2015, the Thunder announced the team would leave Stadium Australia and play all home games at Sydney Showground Stadium until the 2024–25 BBL season.
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.
Watson was elected to captain the side in 2016. 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.

### 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.

## Current squad

The squad of the Sydney Thunder for the 2025–26 Big Bash League season as of 19 February 2025.
* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
| No. | Name | Birth Date | Batting Style | Bowling Style | Additional Info. |
| Batters |||||||
| 9 | Ollie Davies | 15 October 2000 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 5 | Sam Konstas | 2 October 2005 | Right-handed | Right arm leg spin | |
| 31 | David Warner | 27 October 1986 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | Captain |
| All-rounders |||||||
| 93 | Chris Green | 1 October 1993 | Right-handed | Right-arm off spin | |
| 44 | Nathan McAndrew | 14 July 1993 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | |
| 95 | Daniel Sams | 27 October 1992 | Right-handed | Left-arm fast | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| 1 | Cameron Bancroft | 19 November 1992 | Right-handed | — | |
| 77 | Sam Billings | 15 June 1991 | Right-handed | — | Overseas Pre-Signing |
| Bowlers |||||||
| 8 | Wes Agar | 5 February 1997 | Right-handed | Right arm fast | |
| 17 | Tanveer Sangha | 26 November 2001 | Right-handed | Right arm leg spin | |

## 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 |
| 2023–24 | | |
| 2024–25 | 3rd | Runner up |

## Administration and support staff
### Current staff

| Position | Name |
| General manager | Trent Copeland |
| Head coach | Trevor Bayliss |
* Source:

## Honours

* Big Bash:
** Champions (1): 2015–16
** Runners Up (1): 2024-25
** Minor Premiers (0):
** Finals series appearances (5): 2015–16, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
** Wooden Spoons (5): 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2023–24

## 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 2012 | Sixers | 17 Runs (D/L) | ANZ Stadium | 31,262 | Mitchell Starc |
| 8 December 2012 | Sixers | 7 wickets | SCG | 15,279 | Brad Haddin |
| 30 December 2012 | Sixers | 4 wickets | ANZ Stadium | 20,986 | Daniel Hughes |
| 21 December 2013 | Sixers | 6 wickets | SCG | 18,180 | Nic Maddinson |
| 25 January 2014 | Sixers | 8 wickets | ANZ Stadium | 25,726 | Nathan Lyon |
| 27 December 2014 | Sixers | 16 runs | ANZ Stadium | 32,823 | Aiden Blizzard |
| 22 January 2015 | Sixers | 4 wickets | SCG | 36,487 | Jordan Silk |
| 17 December 2015 | Thunder | 36 runs | Spotless Stadium | 18,287 | Michael Hussey |
| 16 January 2016 | Thunder | 46 runs | SCG | 38,456 | Shane Watson |
| 20 December 2016 | Sixers | 9 wickets | Spotless Stadium | 21,798 | Moises Henriques |
| 14 January 2017 | Thunder | 8 wickets | SCG | 39,756 | Fawad Ahmed |
| 19 December 2017 | Thunder | 5 wickets | Spotless Stadium | 21,589 | Shane Watson |
| 13 January 2018 | Sixers | 8 wickets | SCG | 36,458 | Chris Green |
| 24 December 2018 | Thunder | 21 runs | Spotless Stadium | 10,508 | Jos Buttler |
| 2 February 2019 | Sixers | 9 wickets (D/L) | SCG | 34,385 | Sean Abbott |
| 28 December 2019 | Sixers | Super Over | SCG | 35,296 | Tom Curran |
| 18 January 2020 | Thunder | 4 runs (D/L) | Giants Stadium | 15,476 | Chris Morris |
| 13 January 2021 | Sixers | 5 wickets (D/L) | Manuka Oval | | Steve O'Keefe |
| 21 January 2021 | Thunder | 46 runs | Adelaide Oval | | Alex Hales |
| 26 December 2021 | Sixers | 30 runs (D/L) | Sydney Showground Stadium | | Dan Christian |
| 15 January 2022 | Sixers | 60 runs | Sydney Cricket Ground | | Steve O'Keefe |
| 8 January 2023 | Sixers | 7 wickets | Sydney Showground Stadium | | Sean Abbott |
| 21 January 2023 | Sixers | 125 runs | Sydney Cricket Ground | | Steve Smith |

## Captains

There have been six captains in the Thunder's history, including matches featuring an acting captain.
| Captain | Span | M | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W–L% |
| David Warner | 2011–25 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 66.67 |
| Daniel Smith | 2011–12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Chris Rogers | 2012 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Gayle | 2013 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Hussey | 2013–16 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 39.13 |
| Chris Hartley | 2015 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Shane Watson | 2016–19 | 31 | 13 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 43.33 |
| Ben Rohrer | 2016 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Callum Ferguson | 2019–21 | 32 | 16 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 51.61 |
| Chris Green | 2021–24 | 32 | 13 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 43.33 |
| Jason Sangha | 2022 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| Usman Khawaja | 2022 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 50 |