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BBL07 season preview: Sydney Thunder

Roar Guru
16th December, 2017
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Is Sydney Thunder set for another struggle? (AAP Image/Craig Golding)
Roar Guru
16th December, 2017
2

The Sydney Thunder will be looking to rebound from finishing last in BBL06 after winning the title in 2015-16. Can the men in green bounce back this season or will they struggle once more?

BBL06 Record – eighth: three wins, five losses
Titles – one
Semi-finals appearances – one

Current squad
Aiden Blizzard, Pat Cummins, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand), Clint McKay, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Shane Watson, Fawad Ahmed, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Alister McDermott, Arjun Nair, Gurinder Sandhu, Jos Buttler (England), Andrew Fekete, Callum Ferguson, Liam Hatcher (rookie), Jay Lenton.

Noted ins
Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand)

Noted outs
Andre Russell (banned)

Overseas rating: Mitchell McClenaghan and Jos Buttler
The Thunder have opted for two new imports this season as they look to invigorate a side that really struggled for the majority of last season. Mitchell McClenaghan is an experienced T20 performer, with the 31-year-old left arm seamer having played 28 T20 internationals for New Zealand.

McClenaghan has a decent record with a very good 7.7 economy rate for a fast bowler, and he has taken a reasonable 30 wickets from 28 games at an average of 25. The Thunder obviously wanted a bowler with some competitive fire, as McClenaghan describes himself as “ultra-competitive, aggressive, maybe a little bit crazy“.

With Thunder favourite Andre Russell currently serving a drug suspension, director of cricket Michael Hussey has turned to an English international in Jos Buttler. Buttler can be a formidable and dynamic T20 player capable of scoring all around the ground.

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Buttler is also hugely experienced, having played over 200 T20 games with a batting average of 28 and an excellent strike rate of 144. He will be available for the first six games of Thunder’s season before he joins the national side for England’s limited-overs assignment against Australia.

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Batting rating
The Thunder should be well served by the arrival of Jos Buttler and Callum Ferguson to bolster a brittle batting line up. Their batting was a disaster last season without the depth or strike power to worry any sides if they lost an early wicket to two, which happened regularly.

Moreover, they suffered heavily from the fact Usman Khawaja is now established in the Test team and Shane Watson was below his best. Aiden Blizzard doesn’t do enough for me, and though Kurtis Patterson and Ryan Gibson are good players they are unlikely to really hurt a side. This batting line up will rely very heavily on Shane Watson and Jos Buttler.

Spin bowling rating
The Thunder are really well served by two consistent and reliable spinners in Chris Green and Farad Ahmed. Green is effective going around the wicket, sliding the ball into the pads with very little flight. Though he has averaged less than a wicket a game over 17 games, he goes at less than seven runs per over.

Ahmed had an excellent Big Bash last season with his ability to turn the ball both ways and act as a strike bowler. I don’t see any problems for the Thunder getting through eight overs of spin here, especially on their home deck at Spotless Stadium where both Green and Ahmed were so effective last season.

Seam bowling rating
I’m a bit worried about the Thunder here, with Pat Cummins very likely to be unavailable for the majority of the season. They lack pace and intimidation without him, though that’s not to say Cummins didn’t prove costly last year at times in terms of his economy rate.

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Shane Watson is still an extremely good T20 bowler and will be handy at the death with his canny change-ups and ability to hit yorkers. Both McClenaghan and McKay are both very experienced bowlers and competitors, so it will be largely down to them how the Thunder fair this season in the seam department.

(AAP Image/Craig Golding)

The gun: Shane Watson
Shane Watson enters this season in stunning form having plundered some grade attacks around Sydney of late. Watson hit 16 sixes and just one four in his latest innings against Mosman, so it’s clear he is fresh and ready to make up for a poor campaign last year.

Watson missed the first couple of games with injury in BBL06 and really struggled to get going with the bat. He did bowl sensationally throughout BBL06 and was the Thunder’s most tidy seamer, especially at the death. I’m expecting Watson to get back to his dominant best this year and wouldn’t be surprised if he is one of the leading few run scorers in the tournament.

Watson is one of the most experienced T20 players in the world and is one of the highest paid players in the IPL most seasons. Through 238 games he averages 28 with the bat with a strike rate of 138 and has 194 wickets at an economy rate under eight He is the total package when on song and fit.

The smokey: Arjun Nair
Nair is a young finger spinner with the ability to bowl out the front of the hand, making him somewhat of a mystery spinner. He made his debut for the Thunder last season with a fair bit of hype, but he struggled to make too much of an impact. The reason he can do that is he has a delivery which no Australian finger-spinner before him has mastered – a front-of-the-hand carrom ball that turns away from right-handed batsmen.

Nair will have competition from the likes of Chris Green and Farad Ahmed to get into the team. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Thunder play three spinners at home given the slow nature of the wicket and the fact Nair is a guy capable of batting at Number seven or eight and contriving runs.

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The potential flop: Aiden Blizzard
Blizzard is not a consistent run-scorer at the top of the order. While he can go off every now and then, he was one of the reasons the Thunder struggled last season. He has not played any first-class cricket since 2012, so he has really fallen off the radar as a player, and at 33 years of age it is difficult to see him jumping into an intense tournament like the BBL and really dominating again.

The circuiter: Jos Buttler
This was an easy choice. It’s clear the Poms have been enjoying themselves this summer in Australia, and I expect Jos Buttler to have the same mindset when he arrives. Playing in Sydney in the new year has its advantages, and I expect him to go as hard off the field as he goes on it.

(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

The verdict
I’m sorry, Thunder fans, but I just don’t see anywhere near enough quality in the batting stocks and seam bowling unit to give this team a chance of making the finals this season.

Callum Ferguson and Jos Buttler will add some much-needed quality and experience to the Thunder middle order. However, really they need their captain Shane Watson to have a massive tournament with the bat if this side is any hope of returning to the finals. They have some very good spin bowling variety and quality, but without Pat Cummins to scare some batsman up front, I can see the Thunder struggling to take early wickets.

When I look through the Thunder’s roster there are plenty of good Sydney-grade cricketers there, but whether they can step up and perform in this high-level environment is a question given their lack of big-game experience. I can’t rule any team out completely given this competition is always very close, but the Thunder will be closer to the spoon than they are to the finals.

The Prophet’s verdict
“The Newcastle Knights won three straight spoons in the NRL, and if the Thunder keep on trotting out these same guys, they might break their record.

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“Watto is a gun and their spinners will be gold, but overall the Thunder roster stinks in depth of quality compared to most BBL franchises.

“These blokes will paddle and be right in wooden spoon contention.”

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