Hales, Warner bring the stardust but local names the key for Sydney Thunder

Captain Jason Sangha Coach Trevor BaylissSquad Ben Cutting, Ollie Davies, Brendan Doggett, Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan), Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales (England), Baxter Holt, Nathan McAndrew, Usman Qadir (Pakistan), Alex Ross, Rilee Rossouw (South Africa), Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, David Warner, Sam WhitemanIn Rilee Rossouw, David Warner, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Sam Whiteman, Usman Qadir Out Sam Billings, Usman Khawaja, Jonathan Cook, Saqib Mahmood, Chris Tremain, Mohammad HasnainWhat happened in the draft It felt like they had done well with Alex Hales, David Willey and Rilee Rossouw. Willey was an enticing platinum pick with his availability for most of the season, but he recently withdrew from the deal sending Thunder back to the drawing board and they brought in Afghanistan left-armer Fazalhaq Farooqi. Hales will return to his long-term club on the back of T20 World Cup success and Rossouw has had an impressive season in the format. Both, however, will only be around until early January.Last season: Knockout Thunder reached the finals on the back of a strong mid-season run where they won six games on the bounce including a 129-run hammering of Melbourne Renegades where Daniel Sams hit an astonishing 98 off 44 balls. But they fell short against Adelaide Strikers where they had got the equation down to 39 off 23 balls then 14 off the last over which Harry Conway was able to defend. Jason Sangha led the run-scoring with 445 at 49.44 and a strike-rate of 132.04 and Sams was the leading wicket-taker with 19 although Tanveer Sangha and Gurinder Sandhu were the most consistent performers.International impact The return of David Warner to the BBL was the big off-season story, but the window for his availability after the South Africa series may shrink with the squad due to depart for India in late January. Still, when he does suit up in green it will be one of the most anticipated moments of the tournament - especially the derby clash with Steven Smith's Sydney Sixers. Beyond