BBL | 13 preview: Thunder skipper is satisfied with the individuals in form
Sydney Thunder’s roster is full of players who are having career-best starts to the domestic season, so they are confident going into KFC BBL|13.
Fortunately for Sydney Thunder, Cameron Bancroft, the most impressive domestic player of the previous two seasons, is not on their roster of players expected to make waves in the first half of the summer.
Recent Australia A representatives include Nathan McAndrew, Liam Hatcher, and Gurinder Sandhu. Meanwhile, rising leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha made his ODI and T20I debuts recently, and new full-time captain Chris Green made his T20I debut earlier this month, just days after getting married.
You have a very strong team when you include Ollie Davies, who has been NSW’s best batsman to begin the domestic summer, culminating in his first-class century last month.
With the Thunder, Alex Hales is back at the top of the order for another season. In his first Big Bash season, captain Green has promised plenty of highlights from their blistering Pakistani pace sensation Zaman Khan.
Before the Thunder’s opening game against the Heat in Canberra, Green told cricket.com.au, “A lot of our fast bowlers – Nathan McAndrew, Liam Hatcher, Gurinder Sandhu – are probably having one of their better starts to a season, if not their best starts, (with their) form in Shield and one-day cricket domestically.”
“The bowlers are in good form, Ollie Davies is in incredible form, and then you add in our international players, and as a team, I’m really excited about where we’re at individually heading into the season.”
“And I most likely overlooked Cameron Bancroft as well; he’s a recent addition and playing well. Thus, I’m looking forward to us getting together as a group and watching those guys play.”
To add depth to the squad, young NSW players Liam Doddrell, Will Salzmann, and Sam Konstas have also inked their first BBL contracts.
Additionally, Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia, has joined the Thunder’s marquee supplementary list. This season, a new mechanism allows clubs to sign players under contract with Cricket Australia who have limited availability without using up one.
