Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder have announced their squads for their first match of BBL|15
Warner to miss BBL final rematch against 'Canes due to injury
Sydney Thunder will be without their captain David Warner for their KFC BBL|15 season opener against Hobart Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
The veteran batter has been ruled out of the grand final rematch at Ninja Stadium after reportedly injuring his right side while playing with his children at the beach.
Warner, 39, has been receiving treatment in the days since and is hopeful of recovering in time for Saturday night's blockbuster home Sydney Smash against the Sixers.
Hurricanes squad v Thunder: Rehan Ahmed (England), Nikhil Chaudhary, Tim David, Nathan Ellis (c), Rishad Hossain (Bangladesh), Chris Jordan (England), Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Will Prestwidge, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Tim Ward, Mac Wright
Thunder squad v Hurricanes: Chris Green (c), Charlie Anderson, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Billings (England), Ollie Davies, Matt Gilkes, Ryan Hadley, Shadab Khan (Pakistan), Sam Konstas, Nathan McAndrew, Blake Nikitaras, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, Reece Topley (England)
Chirs Green will captain the Thunder in Warner's absence with young fast bowler Charlie Anderson brought into the squad as a replacement player.
"It's obviously not ideal to not have Davey but we'd rather be careful earlier in the tournament," Thunder general manager Trent Copeland said.
"I'm confident he’ll be right for our biggest game of the year, the Sydney Smash on Saturday.
"Charlie Anderson is one of the brightest young talents in the whole country, as we've seen with Australia A and NSW in recent times."
Warner was the club's leading scorer last season with 405 runs as the Thunder finished runners-up in BBL|14, going down to the Hurricanes in the final.
The left-hander's absence for their first game of the new campaign will give the Thunder a chance to trial a new opening combination after Warner flagged last week before his injury was revealed that he could move down the batting order this season depending on conditions and their opposition.
That could see Sam Konstas partnered with Cameron Bancroft, Matthew Gilkes or Blake Nikitaras against the Hurricanes.
"It's more for a match-up and strategic point of view," Warner said last Friday. "We don't have that left-hander in the middle that we've been looking for.
"It's just a conversation we're having … there could be some opportunities where I bat three, I might bat in the middle, it just depends."
There were no surprises in the Hurricanes 14-man group for Tuesday's clash with the reigning champions naming eight of their XI from last season's final in their first squad of BBL|15.
Draft picks Rehan Ahmed and Rishad Hossain are both in line to make their Hurricanes debuts if selected. Leg-spinner Hossain was due to play for Hobart last season but was unable to gain clearance to play in the tournament by the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Hossain and English allrounder Ahmed – another leg-spinner – replace spinners Peter Hatzoglou and Paddy Dooley on the Hurricanes list this season after the pair were unable to secure new contracts.
Batter Mac Wright is back for the Hurricanes after missing the entire BBL|14 season with an ACL injury, while recently signed replacement player Will Prestwidge has also been included in the squad.
Test squad members and Hurricanes recruits Jake Weatherald and Beau Webster are expected to be unavailable until after the Ashes in January.
Fresh off their maiden Weber WBBL triumph on Saturday, the Hurricanes' men's side return to Ninja Stadium for the first time since Mitch Owen blasted the equal fastest century in BBL history to secure the club's first Big Bash title in January.
KFC BBL|15 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
SCO
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.363 | 0 | 14 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.605 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
HUR
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.759 | 0 | 12 |
|
5
HEA
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.431 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.231 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.202 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -1.212 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points