The Renegades' season is on the line as they take on the already eliminated Thunder at Engie Stadium
Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Renegades: match preview
Match facts
Who: Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Renegades
What: Match 33, KFC BBL|15
Where: Engie Stadium, Sydney
When: Monday, January 12. Bat flip at 6.30pm AEDT, first ball at 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: Troy Penman and Sam Nogajski (field), Roberto Howard (third), Sharad Patel (fourth), Janine Stainer (match referee)
Match squads
Sydney Thunder: David Warner (c), Charlie Anderson, Wes Agar, Tom Andrews, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Billings, Chris Green, Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hadley, Sam Konstas, Nic Maddinson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, David Willey
In: Charlie Anderson. Out: Nathan McAndrew (omitted)
Updated: Despite being named in the Thunder squad on Sunday, captain David Warner will miss the clash with the Renegades with a knee injury. Warner didn't field in Saturday's loss to the Heat after taking a knock to the knee during his 82 from 56 balls at the Gabba. Sam Konstas has been recalled to open the batting with Matthew Gilkes, while Sam Billings will captain the side. The Thunder said the veteran left-hander remains in contention to play in their season finale against the Sixers at the SCG with the club already eliminated from finals contention.
Meanwhile, fast bowler Nathan McAndrew has been dropped from the Thunder squad for their final home game of the season after conceding more than 10 an over in his last match against the Strikers and 15 an over in their loss to the Hurricanes before that. Aussie Under-19 World Cup-winning Charlie Anderson comes into the squad and is in line to make his BBL debut.
Melbourne Renegades: Will Sutherland (c), Jason Behrendorff, Josh Brown, Harry Dixon, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Caleb Jewell, Hassan Khan, Muhammad Rizwan, Gurinder Sandhu, Tim Seifert, Callum Stow, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa
In: Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa. Out: Brendan Doggett (hamstring awareness), Matthew Spoors (omitted)
Australian white-ball spinner Adam Zampa has recovered from a neck strain and returns to the Renegades squad for their crunch clash with the Thunder. Zampa has missed the 'Gades past four games after straining a neck muscle during his 3-25 against the Hurricanes December 29.
Paceman Tom Rogers returned via club cricket on Saturday but remains absent from the Renegades squad and is yet to play this season after undergoing shoulder surgery in mid-2025. Spin-bowling allrounder Matthew Spoors drops out of the squad with Zampa's return.
Test quick Brendan Doggett will also miss, after being withdrawn from the squad due to minor hamstring awareness. Veteran Andrew Tye is his replacement.
Club news
Sydney Thunder
Melbourne Renegades
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Players to watch
Sam Billings (Thunder): The Englishman has produced a couple of handy starts with scores of 34, 1 and 20 in their past three matches but the Thunder desperately need someone to kick on to support David Warner, who has 323 runs for the season. With the Thunder already eliminated from BBL|15, Billings will be hoping to finish on a high ahead of his return next season.
Josh Brown (Renegades): The destructive opener has found top gear over the past three games with scores of 80, 22 and 84, with the pair of 80s both coming against the Stars in the derby. The 'Gades will be hoping Brown can cash in against the struggling Thunder too as they seek to keep their finals chances alive.
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 have won six of their past seven BBL matches against Melbourne Renegades, including each of their past two; their only defeat in that span was a four-wicket loss in December 2022 at Marvel Stadium.
- Melbourne Renegades will be aiming for consecutive wins in the BBL outside Victoria for the first time since January 2020, following their four-wicket victory against Perth Scorchers in their last game outside their home state (January 7 at Optus Stadium).
- Sydney Thunder have lost their past five BBL matches; the last and only time the Thunder recorded a longer losing run in the competition was a 19-match span from December 2011 to January 2014.
- Josh Brown (Melbourne Renegades) has scored 229 runs at an average of 57.3 across his past four BBL innings; although, he's scored fewer than 40 runs in all his four innings against Sydney Thunder in the competition.
- David Warner (8) is one away from surpassing Callum Ferguson (8) for the outright third most scores of 50-plus for Sydney Thunder in BBL history; only Alex Hales (16) and Usman Khawaja (12) have logged more.
What's on the line?
The Thunder's season is over after securing just one win from eight games, so David Warner's side will be playing from pride against the Renegades to give their home fans something to cheer about. Will Sutherland's side however are still in with a shot of playing finals, but they'll need to win at least two of their remaining three games, starting with this clash against the Thunder.
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