Sydney Thunder

Team Country: Australia

Team City: Sydney, New South Wales

Team Administrator: Cricket NSW

Founded (Year): 2011

Home Ground: Sydney Showground Stadium (GIANTS Stadium)

Coach: Trevor Bayliss

Captain: Chris Green

Forms of Cricket: Twenty20

Sydney Thunder: competitions

Sydney Thunder: Twenty20 Cricket Competitions

Logo Tournament Wins Years Big Bash League 1 2015-16

Sydney Thunder: Australian professional men's T20 franchise

The Sydney Thunder is one of eight teams played in the T20 competition (Australian BBL). Like the Sydney Sixers, it represents Sydney but is based on another venue – the Sydney Showground Stadium, with a capacity of more than 20,000 spectators. After the global rebranding of BBL’s predecessor, KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, the team was not allowed to keep the traditional colors of the uniform in order to avoid confusion, so light green became the trademark of the Sydney.

Sydney Thunder: history

The Sydney’s debut season turned out to be extremely unsuccessful. The team finished the draw in the last place of the standings and repeated this anti-record two times in a row, which could not but affect the attendance: if more than 18 thousand spectators attended the matches in 2011-2012, then by the end of the third season this number was halved. The change of captain did not help either: the Sydney lost match after match, almost without showing positive dynamics.

The Sydney managed to get into its ranks the all-rounder Tillakaratne Dilshan, the captain of the Sri Lanka national team, as well as the gifted Irishman Owen Morgan in the 2013-2014 season (he would later lead the British limited overs cricket team and lead it to victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019). Despite the fact that the restructuring took some time, after a season the Sydney inscribed their name in the history of the BBL, having snatched the main trophy from the Melbourne Stars. Clint McKay, who played for the Sydney, became the league’s best bowler (18 wickets).

Later, the team again went back to the bottom of the table, where they spent three more seasons. Even though fans initially perceived these difficulties as temporary, the poor statistics of the Sydney (the last place in the league in terms of performance) again led to an outflow of spectators from the stands.

The team began to regain their previous positions gradually only in the 2019-2020 season. Callum Ferguson became the new captain, while Daniel Sams and Chris Morris have # 1 and # 2 ICC Player rankings on the BBL’s best performing bowlers list (30 and 22 wickets respectively).

Sydney Thunder: players

The current head coach of the Sydney Thunder is Trevor Bayliss. In the current composition, the following stand out:

1. Callum Ferguson, one of the most efficient and organized batsman on the team. Headed the Sydney in the 2019-2020 season;
2. Usman Khawaja, who is called the best batsman of the Sydney for a reason, as evidenced by his personal statistics;
3. Ben Cutting, an Australian all-rounder, whose form largely determines the results of the team on the field;
4. Sam Billings, a British wicket-keeper who played for the Chennai Super Kings for a while.

It is interesting to note that some of the players, despite the existing salary ceilings in the league, are reluctant to move to more successful clubs. So, in particular, Chris Gale, on the transfer of which the Sydney spent an impressive amount of money, rejected the offer of the Perth Scorchers to stay in the team.

Sydney Thunder: statistics

The Sydney Thunder have won the so-called wooden spoon four times at the end of the season, making them one of the least effective teams in the league. However, fans enjoy watching the Sydney Smash take on the Sydney Sixers. The former has won just six of the eighteen matches played since 2012. Several members of the team, including “Mr. Cricket” Michael Hussey, were honored with the title of player of the match at the same time.

Sydney Thunder: record holders

Some of the most prominent the Sydney Thunder players include:

• Australian batsman of Pakistani origin Usman Khawaja (1380 runs);
• Successful batsmen team Michael Hussey – Jacques Kallis;
• Bowler Daniel Sams (45 wickets).

Sydney Thunder is one of the most interesting in Australian cricket. Follow the News of the team, and also use Tips for matches with its participation.