The previously unheralded Hurricanes opener rewrote the record books as the Sydney Thunder were thrashed by seven wickets in the BBL final.
The previously unheralded Hurricanes opener rewrote the record books as the Sydney Thunder were thrashed by seven wickets in the BBL final.
Righto, no more dilly-dallying. We’ve got play people. David Warner and Jason Sangha opening for the Thunder at a sold-out Ninja Stadium (yeah, again, I know. Bellerive Oval for everyone over the age of 12).
Thunder and lightning, all very frightening, here at the Maroubra Bureau, nothing but sunshine down south. Make of that what you will.
Riley Meredith, one of the fastest bowlers in the country, takes the ball and we’re off.
Meredith pushing 150km/hr in his first over and a very tight start, just the two singles squeezed out by Sangha and Warner. Hobart veteran Cameron Gannon now from the other end.
Sydney Thunder 0-2 after one over.
From Galle, Sri Lanka: Travis Head has agreed to give up Twenty20 franchise opportunities outside the Big Bash League and the IPL, heeding Cricket Australia warnings about his workload as an all-format cricketer for the national team.
After emerging as arguably the most destructive batter in world cricket, Head is now among Australia’s highest-paid players. At 31, he has conceded that he should not overstretch himself with overseas franchise gigs between internationals, the better to lengthen his time at the top.
This masthead wrote last year about Cricket Australia’s burnout concerns for Head, who played in the US-based Major League Cricket tournament in 2024, but he has now resolved to keep such outings to a minimum, also ruling out the Hundred in the UK.
“I won’t play franchise cricket other than IPL,” Head said in Galle. “Big Bash will be the third team I play for, so I won’t play anything other than that at this stage, and I think that gives me the opportunity to have that time off.
“It’s pretty hard to have those eight days off and then play MLC in a couple of months’ time or the Hundred. So I understand that and I’m very lucky to have those seven days off on this tour and Test cricket’s the most important thing at the moment for us as a group. So I want to put as much effort as I can into that.”
Read the full story here.
Sydney Thunder coach Trevor Bayliss doesn’t hesitate, nor need a leading question when asked the key difference in a finals-bound dressing room, a year on from owning the worst Big Bash record in a decade.
“David Warner,” Bayliss deadpans.
“The job he’s done as captain, it’s not just about his batting, it’s his personality. He’s always up for it, he’s a positive character. Loud, obnoxious sometimes. But the boys love it.
“He engages with everyone and out on the field, everyone’s got confidence that he obviously knows the game and the [tactical] moves he’s made have, most of the time, been good ones.
“He’s a proactive captain, proactive captains seem to know what’s about to happen and make a fielding change before it happens.”
The Thunder went 1-7 last season, the worst return of any side since the same outfit failed to muster a win in 2012-13.
Either way, the never-ending Warner narrative and accompanying spotlight were always good odds of defining the Thunder’s campaign.
It started, after all, with the franchise championing an end to his leadership ban that resulted from the 2018 ball-tampering saga.
Read the full story here.
We’ve flipped the bat (yeah, I know) and Hobart have come up trumps, they’re opting to bowl first. David Warner says he would’ve chosen to bat first anyway.
The Hurricanes are unchanged from the semi-finals and have bowled first every game this year – captain Nathan Ellis feels “like the wicket will get better under lights.”
The Thunder are bringing Ollie Davies into their batting line-up as their only change.
Hobart Hurricanes: 1 Mitch Owen, 2 Caleb Jewell, 3 Matthew Wade (wk), 4 Ben McDermott, 5 Tim David, 6 Nikhil Chaudhary, 7 Chris Jordan, 8 Nathan Ellis (capt), 9 Cameron Gannon, 10 Peter Hatzoglou, 11 Riley Meredith
Sydney Thunder: 1 David Warner, 2 Jason Sangha, 3 Matthew Gilkes, 4 Sam Billings (wk), 5 Ollie Davies, 6 Chris Green, 7 George Garton, 8 Nathan McAndrew, 9 Tom Andrews, 10 Wes Agar, 11 Tanveer Sangha
Evening sports fans,
Don’t look now, but the Big Bash final is upon us, Hobart hosting Sydney Thunder in the Tasmanian capital.
The locals are slight favourites down south with Tim David and Mitch Owen our best bet for pyrotechnics from the home side – the Hurricanes are out for their first BBL title by the way.
The Thunder meanwhile, they’ve got David Warner at the top of the order and the batting aggregates, leading the visitors to this decider just a few months after CA overturned his leadership ban.
First ball is at 7:15pm AEDT, we’ll have the toss, teams and plenty of gibber to come shorty.
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