Ollie Davies will be in magenta next summer, not lime green. The 25-year-old batter has quit Sydney Thunder and accepted a three-season contract with the Sydney Sixers, a move confirmed just as the Thunder’s end-of-season review lands on the desk at Cricket New South Wales.
“I’m so excited to sign with the Sydney Sixers for the next three years,” Davies said in a statement. “It’s a childhood dream to play professional cricket alongside my little brother Joel. We’re both stoked to pull on the magenta together and run out at the SCG. I hope I can make meaningful contributions as we fight to bring home a championship for our fans.”
That dream has been a while coming. Davies exploded for the Thunder in 2022-23, peeling off three BBL half-centuries and earning a reputation for fearless lofted hitting over cover. Since then his returns have flattened out. Last season he played nine matches, including the eliminator against Hobart, but in 2025-26 he managed just one appearance – this despite a Thunder top order that, Warner aside, never really fired.
The timing of the switch is awkward for the Thunder. Their two-win campaign left them stone-bottom and prompted a full review now being discussed at Cricket NSW headquarters. Chief executive Lee Germon confirmed the process is well under way.
“We’re in the process of formulating some decisions in terms of the Thunder moving forward,” Germon told ESPNcricinfo on Saturday. “I have a meeting this week where I’m going to be privy to the review, so I’m not in a position to make any comment.”
Coach Trevor Bayliss is five seasons into the role. He has guided the side to three finals series, including the 2024-25 decider, yet also overseen two wooden spoons (2023-24 and 2025-26). Whether the World-Cup-winning coach is retained will be one of the review’s headline items.
The wider NSW programme is in flux. Only a fortnight ago Cricket NSW confirmed it would part company with long-serving Sixers boss Greg Shipperd at the end of both the current domestic season and his BBL contract. That decision surprised many; under Shipperd the Sixers have reached three of the past five BBL finals and not finished outside the top three since 2018-19, though the silverware cupboard has remained locked since 2020-21.
On the state front, Shipperd is also set to hand over the Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup reins despite New South Wales still being in contention for both trophies and despite having a contract through to 2026-27. Change, clearly, is the order of the day.
Meanwhile the Sixers’ playing roster is anything but settled. Captain Moises Henriques and veteran left-hander Daniel Hughes are both out of contract and free to talk elsewhere. Off-spinner Todd Murphy, squeezed from the XI mid-season when called into Australia’s Test squad, is also expected to test the market. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa, whose white-ball pedigree needs no introduction, has been loosely linked with a return to New South Wales colours, though neither club nor player has commented publicly.
For Davies the path is clearer: new colours, familiar surroundings and, crucially, consistent opportunities. His record at the SCG is quietly impressive – an average nudging 30 and a strike-rate north of 140 – and the shorter square boundaries suit his preferred slog-sweep and pick-up pull. The Sixers will expect him to slot into the middle order and offer right-hand/left-hand balance alongside Joel, who showed glimpses of real composure in his debut campaign.
Whether the Thunder can adequately replace Davies is another matter. Their local batting stocks are thin and the BBL’s player-movement window is already busy. A marquee overseas signing could plug the gap, but that solution hasn’t always worked – ask Thunder fans still haunted by short-term arrivals who struggled to adjust to the league’s quirks.
For now, the franchise across town takes the win. The Sixers get a home-grown, power-hitting option for three seasons; the Thunder, once again, face a searching appraisal of systems, selections and strategy. Outcomes of that review, we’re told, are imminent.
