Thunder want English duo back amid draft uncertainty

New coach Trevor Bayliss has indicated the Sydney Thunder are keen for English pair Alex Hales and Sam Billings to return this season, but he concedes he remains in the dark about whether or not an international player draft will be held this year.

Bayliss, a World Cup-winning coach with England, added he's not spoken with England's T20 skipper Eoin Morgan about making a return to the Thunder this summer.

English players are again expected to dominate the foreign contingent for BBL|11 given their Test squad will be in Australia for the Ashes, and there are also reports an England Lions group – essentially an 'A' side – will also be down under to help preparations for the Test campaign.

Bayliss signed a three-year deal with the Thunder earlier this month following the departure of Kiwi Shane Bond for family reasons.

The signing of the 58-year-old raised the prospect of a reunion with Morgan at the western Sydney club. Having worked together at Kolkata in the IPL where the Australian won two titles as coach, Bayliss and Morgan formed a fruitful partnership at the helm of England's white-ball team, which culminated in their ODI World Cup triumph two years ago.

Morgan has played a total of 13 Big Bash games across three seasons and famously hit a six from the final ball of the match against the Melbourne Stars in 2017, his final act as a Thunder player.

Just three weeks into the job, Bayliss said he's not had a discussion with Morgan about returning to the Thunder and said the club have indicated they're keen to welcome back Hales and Billings after the pair impressed last season.

"I haven't spoken to Eoin about that, no," Bayliss told cricket.com.au. "And it depends if it's a draft or not.

"The Thunder were quite happy with the guys they had last year and given Billings plays as that middle-order batter and wicketkeeper role, he's an important ingredient to the make-up.

"I suspect that some of those (English) players who are not necessarily in the (Test) squad or are on the fringes of the squad will probably be available for this season. And also given the different seasons, those (English) players not quite on the fringe could play a role as well during their off-season.

"But I honestly haven't thought about that much yet. The Thunder were quite happy with their two English imports last year, so I think they'd like to have those couple of guys back again."

Hales, last season's leading BBL run-scorer, has not played at international level since he was dropped for disciplinary reasons in 2019 and despite a weight of runs at domestic level, he has not been able to break back into England's white-ball sides that are captained by Morgan.

BBL clubs are currently unable to officially sign players due to a contracting embargo, but Bayliss says the Thunder have all but lined up all their local players for the coming season, with former Melbourne Renegades coach Michael Klinger working behind the scenes in his new role as Cricket NSW's Head of Male Cricket.

The contracting embargo is expected to be lifted next month and the details of the proposed international player draft, which was postponed last year due to the pandemic, will soon be put to the Cricket Australia Board and the Australian Cricketers' Association for approval.

CA say they plan to formalise the draft next month, but Bayliss echoed recent comments from Sydney Sixers coach Greg Shipperd that the structure and rules of a draft, and if it will go ahead at all, remain a mystery. 

"We've still got a bit of time yet and (we don't know) if there will be a draft or not a draft," Bayliss said. "No one really knows.

"Michael has been the one whose been in contact with people and involved in those discussions, but I don't think he's certain which way it's going to go. So we'll just role with the punches when it comes along."

The BBL expanded to allow three internationals in the playing XI last summer and it's expected that rule will be retained for this season.

Sydney Thunder BBL|11 squad (so far): Jonathan Cook, Ben Cutting, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, Chris Tremain