David Warner has signed a new two-year contract with Sydney Thunder, committing for the first time in his career to a complete BBL season. Ahead of season BBL 2024–25, Steve Smith inked a three-year contract with the Sydney Sixers, and Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey re-signed with the Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers, respectively.

Warner has played in just eight games for Thunder in the last couple of seasons, but he is now retired from Test cricket and will be available for the entire season. That alone followed a nine-season break brought on by his international obligations.

“[There’s a] great bunch of people, a great coach and I’ve always been a part of Thunder,” Warner was quoted as saying in a Thunder release. “I really liked the environment last year, the group we had brought a lot of energy. This year, I think we can go a couple of steps better,” added Warner, who had featured in Thunder’s first-ever BBL game all the way back in 2011.

“Davey is popular wherever he plays, right around the world, particularly in India and I know the South Asian communities in Sydney’s west will get right behind him at Thunder,” Trent Copeland, the Thunder general manager, said. “In Davey, we get a world-class talent with almost 20 years of T20 experience and now that he has retired from international cricket, we can count on his full focus and commitment for the entire tournament, including the finals.”

Only after the conclusion of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home on January 7 and before they depart for the Sri Lanka tour on January 21 of the following year, which also happens to be the first day of the BBL’s knockout stages, will Australia’s other Test regulars be available for the 14th edition of the competition.

As a result, Smith may play in four Sixers games throughout that time, compared to three for Labuschagne and Carey.

Warner called time to his test career in January where he featured against Pakistan. He played his last ODI in November, where Australia became the World Champions beating India in the finals at Ahmedabad. He accumulated 8786 runs in the longest format in 205 innings at an average of 44.59, while in ODIs, Warner scored 6932 runs in 159 innings at 45.30. He further went on to end his international career post Australia’s exit from the T20 World Cup this year, where he retired from the shortest format of the game. He averaged 33.43 with 3277 runs in the T20I format.