Get all the latest team news and broadcast details as the Strikers host the Thunder at Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Strikers v Sydney Thunder: match preview
Match facts
Who: Adelaide Strikers v Sydney Thunder
What: Match 25, KFC BBL|15
Where: Adelaide Oval
When: Tuesday, January 6. Bat flip at 6pm local (6.30pm AEDT), first ball at 6.45pm local (7.15pm AEDT)
How to watch: Channel Seven, 7plus, Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports
Listen: ABC, SEN Radio. Listen in standard and real-time with no delay to live play via Cricket Radio on the CA Live app. Find out more here
Buy tickets: Tickets are on sale here
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live and Big Bash apps
Officials: Drew Crozier and Riki Wessels (field), Donovan Koch (third), Peter George (fourth), Simon Fry (match referee)
Match squads
Adelaide Strikers: Hassan Ali, Mackenzie Harvey, Chris Lynn, Harry Manenti, Jamie Overton, Lloyd Pope, Alex Ross, Jason Sangha, Liam Scott, Matt Short (c), Henry Thornton, Jerrssis Wadia, Luke Wood
Ins: Hassan Ali. Outs: Tabraiz Shamsi.
Hassan Ali's swift return to the squad will be welcomed by the Strikers, however comes at the expense of new signing Tabraiz Shamsi. The crafty left-arm spinner — equipped with 'shoe phone' celebrations — starred on debut against the Scorchers with figures of 3-30, which included the crucial wickets of Mitch Marsh and Cooper Connolly.
Sydney Thunder: Wes Agar, Tom Andrews, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Billings, Chris Green, Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hadley, Sam Konstas, Nic Maddinson, Nathan McAndrew, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, David Warner (c), David Willey
Ins: David Willey. Outs: Shadab Khan (national duties).
International top-up David Willey is in line to make his Thunder debut on Tuesday night, returning to the Big Bash for the first time since BBL|08. The seamer and former Scorcher comes into the squad in place of Shadab Khan, who has been selected in Pakistan's T20I series against Sri Lanka. Khan is scheduled to return to Australia in time for the Sydney Smash on 16 January.
Club news
Adelaide Strikers
Sydney Thunder
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Players to watch
Lloyd Pope (Strikers): Took his best BBL figures since BBL|13 with his 4-23 against the Scorchers in their last match. Now has eight wickets in five games this season to lead the Strikers' tally this season and will be crucial if they're to string a few wins together to get back into finals contention.
David Warner (Thunder): The veteran left-hander is one of Australia most dominant players of spin and the Thunder will be hoping he can fire again after the Strikers sent down 16 overs of spin in their last match. Fresh off his second BBL century more than 14 years after his first, Warner's side desperately need to get back on the winner's list after slipping to the bottom of the table with one win from six games. But after hitting 130 of their 205 runs in their last match, the Thunder need someone to go with Warner against the Strikers at the traditionally high scoring Adelaide Oval.
Top performers
Most Runs
BBL|15 BKT Golden Bat
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
1
Finn Allen
F Allen
|
466 |
|
2
David Warner
D Warner
|
433 |
|
3
Sam Harper
S Harper
|
381 |
|
4
Mitch Marsh
M Marsh
|
360 |
|
5
Aaron Hardie
A Hardie
|
339 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
324 |
|
7
Ben McDermott
B McDermott
|
322 |
|
8
Josh Brown
J Brown
|
311 |
Most Wickets
BBL|15 BKT Golden Arm
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Haris Rauf
H Rauf
|
20 |
|
2
Jack Edwards
J Edwards
|
19 |
|
3
Gurinder Sandhu
G Sandhu
|
18 |
|
4
Tom Curran
T Curran
|
16 |
|
5
Peter Siddle
P Siddle
|
16 |
|
6
Ben Dwarshuis
B Dwarshuis
|
16 |
|
7
Xavier Bartlett
X Bartlett
|
15 |
|
8
Lloyd Pope
L Pope
|
15 |
Most sixes scored
BBL|15
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Finn Allen
F Allen
|
38 |
|
2
Josh Brown
J Brown
|
20 |
|
3
Mitch Marsh
M Marsh
|
20 |
|
4
David Warner
D Warner
|
20 |
|
5
Nikhil Chaudhary
N Chaudhary
|
17 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
17 |
|
7
Ashton Turner
A Turner
|
16 |
|
8
Sam Harper
S Harper
|
15 |
Local knowledge
Rapid stats
- Sydney Thunder won their most recent match against Adelaide Strikers in December 2024, snapping a five-game losing streak against them. However, the Thunder have lost their past two matches against the Strikers in Adelaide, dating back to December 2022. The Thunder will be aiming for consecutive wins against the Strikers in the competition for the first time since January 2022.
- This is set to be the Adelaide Strikers' first BBL match at Adelaide Oval in 2026; the Strikers have won each of their past five matches at the ground to begin a calendar year – their last defeat in such fixtures was a two-wicket loss in 2020 against the Sydney Sixers (January 8).
- Sydney Thunder have won only one of their past seven BBL matches – a 34-run victory against Brisbane Heat on December 22 last year; the Thunder have lost each of their three games since then, the last time they recorded a longer losing run was a five-match span from December 2023 to January 2024.
- Matt Short (Adelaide Strikers) has scored 961 runs at an average of 45.8 (23 batting innings) and taken 15 wickets at an average of 28 (21 bowling innings) across his past 23 BBL matches.
- David Warner (Sydney Thunder) scored 130 not out in the BBL last time out (January 3, 2026 v Hobart Hurricanes); the last time he recorded consecutive 50-plus scores in the competition was in January last year (50 and 88no).
- Sydney Thunder's Daniel Sams (950) is 50 away from reaching 1,000 BBL runs.
- Sam Billings (937) is 63 away from reaching 1,000 runs for Sydney Thunder in the BBL.
- Henry Thornton (49) is one away from reaching 50 wickets for Adelaide Strikers in the BBL.
What's on the line?
It's must win for the Thunder who sit bottom of the standings with just four games left. They're currently four points adrift of fourth place, but it'll take them at least three wins to get back there given their poor net run-rate. The Strikers are just one win out of the top four and have a game in hand on most of the competition, but they too need to string some wins together if they're to feature in the BBL|15 finals.
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