Brisbane Heat v Sydney Thunder: match preview

08 Jan 2026 Jack Paynter & Chris Nice

It's crunch time in BBL|15 for the two bottom-ranked sides as they face off at the Gabba

Match facts

Who: Brisbane Heat v Sydney Thunder

What: Match 29, KFC BBL|15

Where: The Gabba, Brisbane

When: Saturday, January 10. Bat flip at 2.15pm local (3.15pm AEDT), first ball at 3pm local (4pm AEDT)

How to watch: 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: Chris Grant and Ben Treloar (field), Gerard Abood (third), Steve Dionysius (fourth), Kepler Wessels (match referee)

Match squads

Brisbane Heat: Tom Balkin, Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Zaman Khan, Usman Khawaja (c), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Colin Munro, Oli Patterson, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Hugh Weibgen, Jack Wildermuth

Ins: Marnus Labuschagne, Zaman Khan, Usman Khawaja. Outs: Liam Haskett (omitted), Lachlan Hearne (omitted), Jack Wood (omitted).

A monumental boost for the Heat as finals draw nearer, with Marnus Labuschagne and recently retired Test batter Usman Khawaja making their returns to the BBL. Khawaja will assume captaincy honours from stand-in Nathan McSweeney upon his return. The Heat will also welcome Pakistan fast bowler Zaman Khan to the side after he was signed as an International Replacement Player for the injured Shaheen Shah Afridi. Liam Haskett, Jack Wood and Lachlan Hearne have all been omitted.

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

Unchanged

David Warner's side remains unchanged for Saturday, with no Australian Test squad players returning to the Thunder's ranks for the weekend.

Club news

Players to watch

Oli Patterson (Heat): The 20-year-old rising star has taken four wickets in his three games since making his BBL debut against the Strikers. Also made a vital 19 not out in their narrow loss to the Sixers in their last match.

Tanveer Sangha (Thunder): The leg-spinner returned to the Thunder line-up and was their most economical bowler with 0-19 from his four overs in their last match. The Thunder will be relying on Sangha to keep it tight again as they head to the Gabba, another high-scoring venue.

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 defeated the Brisbane Heat by 34 runs when they last met in the BBL earlier this season (December 22, 2025), snapping a four-match losing run against them; the Thunder will be aiming for consecutive wins against the Heat in the competition for the first time since December 2022.
Brisbane Heat have won all three of their matches in Queensland in this BBL|15 season; a fourth consecutive win in this game would equal the Heat's longest winning run at home from the start of a campaign in the history of the competition (won four in BBL|13).
Sydney Thunder have won only one of their past eight BBL matches – a 34-run victory in their most recent meeting against the Brisbane Heat. The Thunder have lost each of their four games since then.
Matthew Renshaw (245) is five away from reaching 250 runs for the Brisbane Heat in this BBL|15 season; if he can reach the milestone it'd be the fourth time he's achieved it in a single season – the outright second most of any player for the Heat in the history of the competition (Chris Lynn five times, Renshaw, Max Bryant and Brendon McCullum all three times).
David Warner (Sydney Thunder) has scored 197 runs without being dismissed across his past two BBL innings (130 not out and 67no); only Usman Khawaja (five times from December 2015 to January 2018) and Chris Gayle (three times from December 2011 to January 2012) have logged more consecutive 50-plus scores for the Thunder in BBL history.

What's on the line?

Given their poor net run-rate, the Heat are two wins from the top four so require at least two wins from their final three matches to remain in the hunt for finals. They won't get a better chance than against the last-placed Thunder to get back on the winner's list. David Warner's side meanwhile are playing for pride with their finals hopes all but extinguished with just one win from seven games.

KFC BBL|15 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Total points PTS
1 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	10	7	3	0	1.363	14
2 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	10	6	3	1	0.605	13
3 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	10	6	3	1	0.331	13
4 Melbourne Stars Men STA	10	6	4	0	0.759	12
5 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	10	5	5	0	-0.431	10
6 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	10	4	6	0	-0.231	8
7 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	10	3	7	0	-1.202	6
8 Sydney Thunder Men THU	10	2	8	0	-1.212	4

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points