NEWCASTLE'S Toby Gray looks set to continue his rise up the cricketing ranks.
Fresh from making his Sheffield Shield debut for NSW, the leg-spinner is poised to sign with Big Bash League franchise Sydney Thunder.
Gray has been linked to the Thunder and appears in line to be part of the squad for the 2022-23 tournament, which gets underway next week.
Although not yet officially announced, 21-year-old Gray joined the club's training session on Thursday.
"It's a pretty cool feeling to be around the Big Bash setup, I'm just trying to learn everything I can and soak it all up," Gray told the Newcastle Herald.
"It's been quite the journey and it's all happened pretty quickly now after being in the making for a while. I'm still wrapping my head around everything and trying to enjoy the ride."
In terms of switching from red-ball cricket to the T20 format, Gray feels confident about adjusting.
"It's obviously a different game to the red-ball and longer-format cricket I have been playing, but I think my skills translate really well to T20 cricket," Gray said.
"I'll keep working with the experienced spinning line-up here at the Thunder and I'm confident I can adapt."
Gray, a Valentine junior and Belmont senior, was called up for the Blues and took match figures of 3-104 against Western Australia at the SCG last month.
He returned to Sydney club Northern Districts before eyeing off this BBL opportunity.
"We [Thunder] have got Chris Green and Tanveer Sangha, who is injured at the moment. They're really good to learn from," Gray said.
"Tanveer has gone through the same path I'm on now so knows what it's like and has a similar skill set to me."
Wallsend batsman Jason Sangha was officially named captain of the Thunder on Wednesday amid controversy surrounding Australian opener David Warner.
Sangha, who burst back onto the BBL scene last summer after almost two years on the sidelines, will skipper the side with Thunder recruit Warner withdrawing a Cricket Australia application to have his leadership ban lifted.
Gray says "I've played and trained a little bit with him [Sangha] so it's good to have someone who knows me in a leadership role, who knows what best suits me and how to use me".
The Thunder open against the Melbourne Stars at Canberra's Manuka Oval on Tuesday, host the Adelaide Strikers at Sydney Showground next Friday and meet the Renegades in Melbourne on December 18.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Newcastle Herald website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.
