Thunder take pre-season across the Tasman

Sydney Thunder will begin their Big Bash League preparations with a pre-season visit to New Zealand to face the Canterbury Kings in Christchurch on December 4.

The Thunder will embark on a five-day trip across the Tasman just weeks out from the season, and captain Michael Hussey says it will give his side an opportunity to play some high-quality cricket in the lead up to BBL|05, as well as giving some up-and-coming players in the Thunder Academy a chance to mix with regular members of the team.

“We’ve got quite a few young players and we’ve got players who aren’t involved in the first-class system so it’s really important to give those guys some really good match practice to prepare us for the Big Bash,” Hussey said.

“It’s also great for the team to be able to go away together and start building on the team spirit.

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“That’s one of the challenges of the Big Bash; you’ve got players coming from all around the country and the world and you’ve got to try and gel as quickly as you can.”

“We need to get some good, hard match practice against some quality opposition.

“Speaking personally, I wouldn’t have played much cricket since the IPL, so to get some high-quality centre-wicket practice in match situations is really important leading into the Big Bash."

The Thunder showed signs of improvement last season after finishing bottom of the competition in its first three seasons, with the recruitment of Jacques Kallis reaping dividends.

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This time around, they’ve added Australia allrounder Shane Watson to their ranks, and also picked up experienced Melbourne Renegades pair Fawad Ahmed and Ben Rohrer to further bolster their squad.

“I’m really happy with the squad – we’ve made some excellent signings,” Hussey said. “I think we’ve got a lot more depth now, which is going to be really important – there’s always curve balls thrown at you with Australian selection or injuries along the way.

“The key for us now is to really get some continuity in our team – keep that same core of players together for hopefully a number of years and that will flow into some sustainable success hopefully.”

Thunder general manager Nick Cummins says the pre-season tour will further strengthen the relationship between the Thunder and their New Zealand counterparts.

“We hosted a couple of Canterbury’s staff during BBL|04 and spent some time sharing ideas with their performance and marketing teams around the development and promotion of T20 cricket,” Cummins said.

“We are delighted that Canterbury has chosen to evolve the partnership by offering the Thunder the opportunity to play in Christchurch. It is ideal preparation in the lead up to BBL|05.”

Tickets available at www.canterburykings.co.nz.

Thunder BBL|05 contracted players: Fawad Ahmed, Aiden Blizzard, Pat Cummins, Jake Doran, Chris Hartley, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Usman Khawaja, Andrew McDonald, Ben Rohrer, Gurinder Sandhu, Shane Watson.

Thunder WBBL|01 contracted players: Alex Blackwell, Stefanie Daffara, Rene Farrell, Mikayla Hinkley, Naomi Stalenberg.