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Thunder set to shed Dad's Army tag

Rohrer hopeful youthful exuberance can help defending champions thrive in BBL|06

Sydney Thunder expect to look livelier in the field and shed their Dad's Army tag, when they begin their Big Bash League title defence against crosstown rivals Sydney Sixers tonight.

A significant slab of cricket experience is missing from Thunder, with champion batsmen and esteemed veterans Michael Hussey and Jacques Kallis no longer on their roster.

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"They are fantastic players and are going to be ultra-hard to replace," Thunder's stand-in skipper Ben Rohrer said.

"But we've got some young kids, so we've got a bit of youthful exuberance coming in, a bit of an opportunity in the batting line-up, which will also help us out in the field.

"We were probably a bit Dads Army-ish in the field last year."

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Rohrer will lead the side at Spotless Stadium in place of Shane Watson, who is expected to miss the defending champion’s first two games with a calf issue.

He was surprised by how much the BBL was continuing to grow on a yearly basis, with crowds for the shortest form of the games sometimes exceeding attendances for international fixtures.

"We had a tour to Orange last week and we were getting stopped on the street to talk about cricket, which never happened for domestic cricketers before, not for a long time anyway," Rohrer said.

'That's really exciting for us, exciting for the game and hopefully that can continue."

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The Thunder's squad includes England T20 captain Eoin Morgan and explosive West Indian allrounder Andre Russell.

The Sixers have bolstered their batting lineup by recruiting England T20 representatives Sam Billings and Jason Roy.

"We've almost got basically three internationals into two because of Johan (Botha's) citizenship and if anything, it's only added to our hitting power," Sixers skipper Moises Henriques said.

Sydney Sixers squad: Moises Henriques (captain), Sean Abbott, Sam Billings, Doug Bollinger, Johan Botha, Ben Dwarshuis, Brad Haddin, Daniel Hughes, Joe Mennie, Stephen O’Keefe, Jason Roy, Henry Thornton, Jordan Silk

Sydney Thunder squad: Ben Rohrer (captain), Fawad Ahmed, Aiden Blizzard, Pat Cummins, Jake Doran, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Jay Lenton, Clint McKay, Eoin Morgan, Kurtis Patterson, Gurinder Sandhu, Andre Russell

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