One of the Big Bash’s favourite overseas signings is set to make his return to the league after more than a decade, as Sydney Thunder prepare to announce Trevor Bayliss’s successor.

English cricket legend Andrew Flintoff is believed to have won the race to take over the Thunder’s hot seat, with the club having parted ways with Bayliss after five seasons at the helm, with two of the last three featuring bottom-place finishes.

Flintoff, formerly a co-host of the renowned British motorsport show Top Gear after his incredible playing career, was the head coach of the Northern Superchargers in England’s Hundred competition in 2024 and 2025.

However, the 48-year-old’s services were up for grabs with the Superchargers’, who have been renamed Sunrisers Leeds from 2026, new Indian-based owners unable to come to an agreement with Flintoff.

The former all-rounder was ushered into that role by England’s new men’s selector and former Australian batter Marcus North, and led the team to fourth and third-placed results.

Flintoff was in Australia as the England Lions coach ahead of the Ashes, taking charge of the squad for an intra-team clash with the Test side in Perth before a series of games against a Cricket Australia XI and Australia A.

The former England Test captain also played a season for Brisbane Heat in 2014-15 where he gained a following for his crafty impressions while in the field on the player microphone.

He will start his tenure with a big call to make over star and club captain David Warner after the former Aussie Test star was charged with drink driving.

Flintoff is well known on Australian shores for a series of remarkable Ashes clashes during a golden era for the rivalry.

He scored nearly 4000 runs at Test level and took 226 wickets with 906 runs and 50 wickets coming against Australia.

Flintoff survived a horror car crash in 2022 while driving an open-topped Morgan Super 3 – capable of reaching speeds in excess of 200km/h – for an episode of Top Gear and not wearing a helmet when the car flipped during filming.