Sydney Thunder are poised to make a shock announcement with former England allrounder Andrew Flintoff set to be named their new BBL coach.

Code Sports first reported on Thursday that Flintoff had won the race to be Thunder’s new mentor and it is understood Flintoff will be confirmed shortly.

Thunder were on the lookout for a new coach after parting ways with Trevor Bayliss. England’s 2019 ODI World Cup winning coach had five years at the helm including reaching the BBL final in 2024-25 but Thunder finished last in the 2023-24 and 2025-26 seasons.

After Bayliss’ departure, Thunder general manager Trent Copeland said that the club would search for a “world-class T20 coach” and have landed on Flintoff. The former England allrounder has been coach of England Lions, England’s A side, in the last 12 months including leading the Lions on a tour of Australia last summer that shadowed the Ashes tour. Flintoff also briefly worked with England’s white-ball squads as a consultant when Matthew Mott was coach.

The Lions are due to tour South Africa in December for three one-day games and two four-day matches, which is likely to clash with the start of the BBL season.

Fltntoff’s only franchise experience as a coach is two seasons at Northern Superchargers in the Hundred in 2024 and 2025. He will not coach them in 2026 after failing to agree to terms with the franchise’s new Indian owners Sun Group who have renamed the team Sunrisers Leeds. Superchargers finished fourth and third in Flintoff’s two seasons in charge. He revealed on the Beard Before Wicket podcast last October that he had never thought about coaching until then Superchargers director of cricket, now England selector Marcus North, rang him out of the blue to gauge his interest in doing it.

Flintoff has experience in the BBL as a player having played one season with Brisbane Heat in 2014-15. He only played seven matches with Heat but they ended up being the last team he represented in his 20-year professional career.

One of Flintoff’s first decisions as coach will surround the captaincy future of David Warner after he was charged with drink driving in April. Warner is expected to plead guilty when his matter will return to court on June 24.

Flintoff’s likely appointment will be the last head coaching role Cricket New South Wales fill across their men’s programs after James Hopes was appointed Sydney Sixers BBL coach earlier this month and Brad Haddin took over as NSW state coach after NSW parted ways with Greg Shipperd despite having a year to run on his contract in both roles.

NSW have announced new assistant coaches for their state program under Haddin with former Australia ODI batter Peter Forrest and former NSW, Sixers and Thunder wicketkeeper-batter Daniel Smith appointed after both have had coaching success in Sydney premier cricket in recent seasons.