The Sydney Thunder have built up a reputation for being all or nothing in recent times. Two seasons ago they were champions but then around that they have delivered next to nothing and head into BBL08 looking to get back to the glory days of BBL06. I don’t think spreading matches around has helped them much and it will be interesting to see if they have the required improvement in them under new coach Shane Bond.
Stats
Last Season: 6th
Captain: Shane Watson
Overseas Players: Jos Buttler & Joe Root (Anton Devcich & Chris Jordan to replace)
Key Player: Fawad Ahmed
Best Odds: 8/1 General
Predicted Finishing Position: 6th
Fixtures
Friday December 21 – Melbourne Stars (h)
Monday December 24 – Sydney Sixers (h)
Friday December 28 – Hobart Hurricanes (a)
Monday December 31 – Adelaide Strikers (a)
Wednesday January 2 – Perth Scorchers (h)
Saturday January 5 – Melbourne Stars (a)
Tuesday January 8 – Brisbane Heat (h)
Sunday January 13 – Adelaide Strikers (h)
Thursday January 17 – Brisbane Heat (a)
Tuesday January 22 – Melbourne Renegades (h)
Thursday January 24 – Perth Scorchers (a)
Wednesday January 30 – Melbourne Renegades (a)
Saturday February 2 – Sydney Sixers (a)
Saturday February 9 – Hobart Hurricanes (h)
Squad
Fawad Ahmed, Jos Buttler (England), Pat Cummins, Callum Ferguson, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Liam Hatcher, Usman Khawaja, Jay Lenton, Nathan McAndrew, Arjun Nair, Kurtis Patterson, Sam Rainbird, Joe Root (England), Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha, Shane Watson, Anton Devcich (New, Zealand international replacement), Chris Jordan (England, international replacement)
Preview
While Joe Root and Jos Buttler are in town the Sydney Thunder look an extremely competent unit with the bat even allowing for the relatively little time they are going to see Usman Khawaja this season but the big test for them will be how they will go when that pair depart. Buttler will be a huge loss because he can take any bowling attack apart and puts the fear into sides. A rejig will be needed when the England duo leave.
The one thng that could keep the Thunder going is their strong looking bowling attack. Shane Watson is usually pretty canny while in Fawad Ahmed, Chris Green and Arjun Nair there are some good spin options. Pat Cummins might get the odd game in between the Tests which will help while Gurinder Sandhu had a good JLT Cup. There might just be too many changes for the Thunder to force their way into the semi-finals though.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
With the chopping and changing that is going to happen in the Sydney Thunder batting line up throughout the tournament it could be a market to look to for some value but unless Buttler and Root fail miserable it might also be one to visit when they disappear which is the strategy I’ll take and focus on the bowling.
I actually think this could be the leading bet of the tournament in this market with Fawad Ahmed very much the man I want to be on. The Thunder play on some right sticky tracks so his mystery and variation should bring the mistakes out of the batsmen regularly. Australians are useless against spin and while Ahmed isn’t the only spinner in the Thunder ranks he is by far the best and most mysterious. Even at 6/4 I think he’s a fair bet to be the leading Sydney bowler.
Tips
Back F.Ahmed Top Sydney Thunder Season Bowler for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
