Bancroft set to continue Big Bash career at Thunder

Sydney Thunder are set to win the race for Cameron Bancroft with the sought-after West Australian opener poised to sign with the NSW Big Bash club for KFC BBL|13.

Cricket.com.au understands Bancroft came to the decision last week and has a three-year offer on the table to join the Thunder.

As many as six clubs were believed to be interested in Bancroft following a career-best BBL campaign with the Perth Scorchers, with the Thunder edging out the Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Renegades for his services.

Despite not being selected in the Scorchers' team for the opening five games, the 30-year-old was one of their best performed batters in their surge to back-to-back championships and his first title in the competition.

Bancroft hit 357 runs at 51 in 11 matches after replacing Englishman Adam Lyth halfway through the season, with his strike rate of 140 more than 15 runs higher than his career T20 mark.

The former Test opener was in and out of the Scorchers side across his eight years at the club and recently signed a three-year extension with Western Australia for the state-based competitions.

But his run of T20 form came too late amid a salary cap squeeze due to Perth's star-studded depth with other clubs able to make the right-hander a more lucrative offer.

With five CA centrally contracted players and seven internationally-capped squad members already on Perth's list for next season, Bancroft would be behind the likes of Mitch Marsh, Ashton Agar, Josh Inglis, Ashton Turner, Jhye Richardson, Aaron Hardie and Lance Morris in the pecking order for marquee spot at the Scorchers.

New contracting rules introduced by Cricket Australia for next season require at least six 'marquee' players in each club's squad of 18 to be paid more than $200,000 following a significant increase in the total payments pool from $1.9m to $3m.

"You contract players for multiple years and he's fallen out of contract at the wrong time for how his form came," WA Cricket chief executive Christina Matthews said last week.

He could be set for a reunion with David Warner at the top of the Thunder's batting line up after the Australian opener signed a two-year deal ahead of last season, although how much the pair play together could depend on Warner's Test commitments with the summer's series against Pakistan and West Indies scheduled until the end of January.

There will also be an opportunity for Bancroft to keep wicket at the Thunder, having last taken the gloves as a fill in for an unwell Josh Inglis during WA's Marsh Sheffield Shield clash with Tasmania in February.

Bancroft has been holidaying in Europe following a four-game stint with Somerset in the County Championship and was in the frame for a recall to the Australian Test squad following a career-best Shield season before national selectors opted for Marcus Harris and Matthew Renshaw.

The men's and women's Big Bash domestic contracting and trading window opened on Monday with clubs now able to make binding agreements with players from other clubs.

Chris Lynn and BBL|12 player of the tournament Matt Short are among the other big names off contract, but both are expected to re-sign with the Adelaide Strikers.

Peter Siddle, meanwhile, could be on the move to one of the two Melbourne clubs after returning to his native Victoria in the state competitions this off-season, while the world's No.1 Test batter Marnus Labuschagne is close to re-signing with the Brisbane Heat.

And the high-profile trade to send Adam Zampa to the Renegades and Sam Harper to the Melbourne Stars is also expected to be lodged with the league in the coming days.