BBL14: Warner keen to open with Konstas for Sydney Thunder

David Warner is eyeing an opening combination with 19-year-old Sam Konstas for the Sydney Thunder in the 2024-25 Big Bash League campaign.

Warner is captaining the Thunder for the first time since 2011 this season, and while he is yet to confirm who his partner at the top of the order will be, he is leaning towards Konstas over Cameron Bancroft.

“I’m probably erring between myself and probably Sammy Konstas at the top,” Warner said.

“We’ll speak about it this week; we’ll see in the warm-up game.

“We know he’s talented, but it’s about going out there in the Twenty20 stuff and trying to work out how to sort of play that format as well, and what he’s going to bring to the table.

“I’ll have a chat to him about how he wants to play and what his style of cricket is as well.

“We’ll have these conversations in the next couple of days about how we want to play and making sure that everyone’s on the same page.”

Konstas is yet to play a BBL match but has thrived in first-class cricket, scoring two centuries for New South Wales in their opening Sheffield Shield game.

He also hit 107 at better than a run a ball against India for the Prime Minister’s XI.

Bancroft, on the other hand, has struggled across all formats, scoring less than 20 in 15 of his last 19 innings.

The Sydney Thunder will need a strong opening partnership, with cricket bookmakers pricing them on the fourth line of betting at $7.50 to win the 2024-25 BBL title.

The Thunder have not made the final since winning the title in 2015-16, but Warner is eager to turn that around this season.

“There are questions for all of us to answer the last couple of years, the way that we’ve played,” he said.

“I’m excited. It’s another challenge for me.

“We’ve got some craft in the middle and hopefully at the top of the order we can fire as well.

“I’ll uphold my own standards and make sure I’m contributing to the team and getting us off to a good start and leading by example of the field with the captaincy.”

The Thunder begin their campaign against the Adelaide Strikers in Canberra on Tuesday, December 17, and are $1.82 favourites at Bet365 to win their opener.

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