Vince to replace Morgan at Thunder

Sydney Thunder have signed Englishman James Vince for the remainder of the KFC Big Bash League to replace overseas batsman Eoin Morgan.

Morgan will play his final game of BBL|06 on Wednesday when the Thunder take on the Melbourne Stars in Sydney before heading to India for England's limited overs series later this month.

Vince, who has played 17 times for England across all three formats, has arrived in Sydney and will be available for the Thunder's match against Hobart on Sunday.

"I’ve watched the tournament back home over the past two or three years," said the 25-year-old.

"I spoke with Eoin about the possibility of playing out here when we were at the World T20 earlier last year and luckily I’ve gotten the opportunity."

Morgan, England's ODI and T20 skipper, is one of five Englishmen who will depart their respective BBL franchises shortly to head to India, with Sydney Sixers duo Jason Roy and Sam Billings, Perth Scorchers allrounder David Willey and Adelaide Strikers quick Chris Jordan also picked for the tour of India.

The Thunder have added young allrounder Arjun Nair to their squad to face the Stars at Spotless Stadium, with former Australia quick Clint McKay dropping out of the 13.

The match is essentially a must-win for the Thunder, who are winless from four matches so far in their title defence with just four matches remaining in the regular season.

The Stars currently sit in sixth place after one win and one loss from two matches but could move as high as third if they beat the Thunder in a replay of last year's Big Final.

Thunder squad: Shane Watson (c), Fawad Ahmed, Aiden Blizzard, Pat Cummins, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Jay Lenton, Eoin Morgan, Arjun Nair, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Andre Russell, Gurinder Sandhu