Thunder to be cautious with Sams

Sydney Thunder strike weapon Daniel Sams seems certain to miss his side’s BBL clash against the Hobart Hurricanes on Thursday night, with coach Shane Bond preferring to take a cautious approach with the concussed all-rounder.

Sams was hit in the helmet while batting for the Thunder against Brisbane Heat at the Gabba on Monday night.

He continued to bat but took no further part in his side’s bowling innings, with the Australian T20 representative missed in the Thunder’s five-wicket loss.

Despite Sams’ bowling absence being telling, Bond has no intention to rush him back, particularly with the Thunder well-placed near the top of the ladder with five wins from seven matches.

“He woke up pretty good but you have to be careful with the concussion stuff,” Bond said on Tuesday.

“It’s day by day and you definitely want to take a more conservative approach. We’ll just see how he shapes up over the next few days.

“There’s still a long way to go. We’re only seven games in. We want him to cone back and be fit. We can’t take any chances with the concussion stuff.

“It was a bit of a bummer for him to get knocked out. He’s playing so well.”

Few things to take away from last night and the skipper is confident we can bounce back! ?? #ThunderNation

?️ Full interview with captain @calferguson12 > https://t.co/pRa9IHAANw pic.twitter.com/cD9u2LgbA0

The Thunder meet the Hurricanes at Optus Stadium in Perth before backing up on Saturday at the same venue against the Scorchers.

“We’ve got a couple of really tough games coming up but we’re fully confident we can get the job done,” Bond said.

“We’re really happy at the halfway point of the competition with five wins under our belt,”| Bond said.

“We’re right amongst it. We’d rather be there than down the bottom trying to fight for every win.

“We feel like we’ve got a team that can threaten in the playoffs but we just have to turn up every day and play well.”

Bond was disappointed with his team’s bowling effort in the first half of the Heat’s innings on Monday night but was pleased with the way the Thunder finished with the ball despite the defeat.

“Credit to Brisbane they played really well … but we were still competitive, still put on a good score, still took it down to the last over, so we know we’ll be better than that next time,” Bond said.

“We thought if we started the innings well, put them under the early pressure with some good bowling, we could cause them trouble. It was nowhere near our best but it wasn’t a horrible performance either.”

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