Legendary South African cricketer Jacques Kallis looms as a possible target for perennial Big Bash League battlers the Sydney Thunder, after captain Mike Hussey declared they needed extra power and class in their batting.
Thunder have finished last in all three seasons of the domestic Twenty20 competition, compiling a dreadful 3-20 record.
One potential target could be allrounder and batting great Kallis, who recently retired from Test cricket but plans to play in the 2015 World Cup in Australia.
“We’d be more than happy to have him here next year. He’d be a very handy acquisition,’ Hussey said of Kallis.
The Thunder won just one of eight matches in the 2013-14 tournament, in which they consistently struggled to score quickly and make decent totals.
“We need to have a good look at the whole squad, but we definitely need some class in there. We need some more power,” Hussey said.
He insisted the Thunder could take plenty of positives from the season and felt they produced a lot of good performances.
Hussey was the Thunder’s leading run scorer, notching three of the team’s meagre tally of five half-centuries.
It was a tough season for the promising but inexperienced quartet of Jason Floros (77 runs at 19.25, strike rate of 106.94), Daniel Hughes (79 runs at 13.16, strike rate of 94.04), Kurtis Patterson (62 runs at 10.33, strike rate 100.00) and Ryan Carters(42 runs at 8.40, strike rate 87.50).
Hussey said they were talented players, but needed experience and time to develop.
“They’ve worked really hard, they are willing to learn, they will do anything to get better,” he said.
“If we keep showing that faith in them, then they will repay that faith in spades in time.”
Despite the adverse results, Hussey said his time at the Thunder had been “absolutely brilliant”, and praised his players for remaining positive.
“I think also next year we’ll be a lot better as well, because I’ve certainly been learning on the job, as a captain of a T20 team,” Hussey said.
“The longer we stick together and keep as many of these guys as we can, I think the better we’ll be.”