The Sydney Thunder has named a squad of thirteen for Sydney Smash 04 against the Sixers at the SCG on Saturday night (7-15pm start).

The side will be led by star batsman Mike Hussey and will include the tremendous hitting power of one of the most destructive batsman in world cricket in David Warner.

Warner, will be one of the main attractions for a team that has both class and experience.

In-form batsman Usman Khawaja, will be part of a strong batting unit that includes English Internationals Eoin Morgan and Chris Woakes, while former Australian T20 opening bowler Dirk Nannes leads an attack that contains former Sixer Luke Feldman and current NSW Blues Steve Waugh Medallist Gurinder Sandhu.

The two new additions to the squad are Blake Dean and Carl Sandri.

Both players have come into the squad at a late stage as temporary injury replacements for Andrew Tye and Luke Doran.

Blake Dean is a 26 year-old right-arm leg spinner from the ACT. He is currently on the Thunder supplementary List and has been upgraded to the main squad, while Doran is injured. He already has a link to the KFC T20 Big Bash, with his older brother Jono Dean being part of the Adelaide Strikers squad for this season’s competition.

30 year-old right-arm off spinner Carl Sandri is an exciting addition to the squad. The captain of the North Melbourne side in the Melbourne Grade competition, Carl recently represented Italy in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifying tournament in Abu Dhabi, where he had a strong tournament with both bat and ball. Sandri, will play as a local player due to the fact that he holds Australian Citizenship.

Sandri, will replace Andrew Tye while he remains injured.

Preceding the Sydney Smash 04, the incredibly successful Lend Lease Breakers will look to continue their winning habit with a curtain raiser match against the SA Scorpions. This game will start at 2-30pm.

The Thunder squad of 13 is :

Mike Hussey (c)
Ryan Carters
Blake Dean
Luke Feldman
Jason Floros
Kurtis Patterson
Usman Khawaja
Eoin Morgan
Dirk Nannes
Gurinder Sandhu
Carl Sandri
David Warner
Chris Woakes