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| League | Women's Big Bash League |
|---|---|
| Personnel | |
| Captain | Heather Knight |
| Coach | Lisa Keightley |
| Team information | |
| City | Sydney |
| Colours | Lime |
| Home ground | Blacktown ISP Oval |
| Secondary home ground(s) | Manuka Oval, North Sydney Oval |
| History | |
| Twenty20 debut | 6 December 2015 (2015-12-06) |
| WBBL wins | 2 (2015–16, 2020–21) |
| Official website | Sydney Thunder |
 Current season | |
The Sydney Thunder (WBBL) are an Australian women's Twenty20 cricket team based in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales.[a] They are one of two teams from Sydney to compete in the Women's Big Bash League, the other being the Sydney Sixers. The Thunder have claimed two WBBL titles, winning the league's inaugural championship and the 2020–21 title.[2]
One of eight founding WBBL teams, the Sydney Thunder are aligned with the men's team of the same name.[3] At the official WBBL launch on 10 July 2015, Rene Farrell was unveiled as the team's first-ever player signing.[4] Joanne Broadbent was appointed as inaugural coach, while Alex Blackwell became the inaugural captain.[5][6]
The Thunder played their first game on 6 December against the Sydney Sixers at Howell Oval in Penrith, winning by nine wickets with 40 balls remaining.[7]
The Thunder have combined with the Brisbane Heat to produce several "thrillers",[8][9][10] including:
The Thunder and the Perth Scorchers have met in two semi-finals:
Due to a scheduling quirk, the two teams did not meet in the Thunder's home state of New South Wales until the 2020–21 Women's Big Bash League season (when the season was played entirely in Sydney due to uncertainty surrounding state border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic). From 2017 to 2018, five of their regular season encounters were played at Lilac Hill Park and characterised by close finishes, including:
At the WBBL|02 season launch, Thunder captain Alex Blackwell said the Sydney Sixers "desperately want to beat us and we desperately want to beat them. It's set up to be a really good rivalry."[25] In a joint media conference ahead of WBBL|05, Sixers captain Ellyse Perry said she considers the Thunder "our biggest rivals" while the Thunder's Rachel Priest claimed "it was a really intense rivalry right when I started with the team".[26] Noteworthy matches include:
There have been three captains in the Thunder's history, including matches featuring an acting captain.
| Captain | Span | M | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W–L% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Blackwell | 2015–2019 | 60 | 36[b] | 23[c] | 0 | 1 | 61.02 |
| Rachael Haynes | 2019–2022 | 42 | 15 | 22[c] | 0 | 5 | 38.46 |
| Hannah Darlington | 2021 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 33.33 |
Source:[35]
| Season | W–L | Pos. | Finals | Coach | Captain | Most Runs | Most Wickets | Most Valuable Player[d] | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | 9–5* | 1st* | C | Joanne Broadbent | Alex Blackwell | Alex Blackwell – 410 | Rene Farrell – 26* | Stafanie Taylor | [36][37][38] |
| 2016–17 | 6–7 | 6th | DNQ | Joanne Broadbent | Alex Blackwell | Alex Blackwell – 386 | Nicola Carey – 14 | Harmanpreet Kaur | [39][40][41] |
| 2017–18 | 10–4 | 2nd | SF | Joanne Broadbent | Alex Blackwell | Rachael Haynes – 426 | Carey, Farrell – 17 | Rachael Haynes | [42][43][44] |
| 2018–19 | 9–4 | 2nd | SF | Joanne Broadbent | Alex Blackwell | Rachael Haynes – 376 | Stafanie Taylor – 19 | Rachel Priest | [45][46][47] |
| 2019–20 | 5–8 | 6th | DNQ | Trevor Griffin | Rachael Haynes[e] | Alex Blackwell – 317 | Hannah Darlington – 16 | Hannah Darlington | [48][49][50] |
| 2020–21 | 7–5 | 3rd | C | Trevor Griffin | Rachael Haynes | Heather Knight – 446 | Sammy-Jo Johnson – 22* | Heather Knight | [51][52][53] |
| 2021–22 | 4–8 | 7th | DNQ | Trevor Griffin | Rachael Haynes[f] | Smriti Mandhana – 377 | Hannah Darlington – 16 | Smriti Mandhana | [54][55][56] |
| 2022–23 | 1–10 | 8th | DNQ | Trevor Griffin | Rachael Haynes | Phoebe Litchfield – 280 | Samantha Bates – 12 | Phoebe Litchfield | [57][58][59] |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | SF | Semi-finalists | * | Led the league |
| EF | Lost the Eliminator | RU | Runners-up | ^ | League record |
| CF | Lost the Challenger | C | Champions |
| Venue | Games hosted by season | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | Total | |
| Bankstown Oval | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | N/A[g] | – | 2 |
| Blacktown ISP Oval | – | 4 | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | |
| Drummoyne Oval | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 2 | – | 5 | |
| Howell Oval | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 4 | |
| Hurstville Oval | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 2 | |
| Lavington Sports Ground | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 2 | |
| Manuka Oval | – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 4 | |
| North Dalton Park | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | |
| North Sydney Oval | – | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | |
| Robertson Oval | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | 2 | |
| Sydney Showground Stadium | 1 | 1 | – | 3 | – | 6 | – | 11 | |
| University Oval No. 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | |
The following is a list of cricketers who have played for the Thunder after making their debut in the national women's team (the period they spent as both a Thunder squad member and an Australian-capped player is in brackets):
Tammy Beaumont (WBBL|06, 08)
Nida Dar (WBBL|05)
Shabnim Ismail (WBBL|05–06)
Harmanpreet Kaur (WBBL|02–04) Heather Knight (WBBL|06) Smriti Mandhana (WBBL|07)
Rachel Priest (WBBL|03–05) Deepti Sharma (WBBL|07) Lea Tahuhu (WBBL|08)
Stafanie Taylor (WBBL|01–04) Chloe Tryon (WBBL|08) Fran Wilson (WBBL|03) Issy Wong (WBBL|07)
Suleeporn Laomi (WBBL|01)[60]
Konio Oala (WBBL|02)[61]
Sterre Kalis (WBBL|03)[62]| Opposition | M | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W–L% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide Strikers | 15 | 6 | 8[h] | 0 | 1 | 42.86 |
| Brisbane Heat | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 44.44 |
| Hobart Hurricanes | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Melbourne Renegades | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 56.25 |
| Melbourne Stars | 17 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 69.23 |
| Perth Scorchers | 18 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 41.18 |
| Sydney Sixers | 16 | 6[b] | 9 | 0 | 1 | 40.00 |
| Total | 115 | 55[b] | 53[h] | 0 | 7 | 50.93 |
Source:[63]
Source:[63]
| Year | Kit Manufacturer | Chest Sponsor | Back Sponsor | Breast Sponsor | Sleeve Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Majestic Athletic | Rebel | XVenture | XVenture | Rebel |
| 2016–17 | Homeworld | Mazda | |||
| 2017–18 | |||||
| 2018–19 | Mazda | Amart Furniture | Homeworld | ||
| 2019–20 | Ring.com | ||||
| 2020–21 | Chamberlain | Chamberlain | |||
| 2021–22 | Nike | Chamberlain | Homeworld | What's Your Plan B? |
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Est. 2011 in Sydney, New South Wales | |
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Australian women's cricket teams
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