South Africa's withdrawal from a one-day series against Australia in January - so they can play in their own domestic Twenty20 competition back home - meant the Aussie players will now be available to join a BBL franchise in January.

It was a prospect Davies was excited by and he hoped the Thunder would land some of the elite talent - like Aussie opener David Warner, who has played for the Thunder in the past.

"It'll be exciting to play against or with the likes of some of those Aussie boys. It's going to be a very good learning experience," Davies said.

"Not that the standard's bad by any means, but it's just going to be even better and better.

"That's going to bring in more viewers with the likes of say [Mitchell] Starc comes in for the Sixers or something along those lines."

Davies was on the comeback from surgery, but had his sights set on the Thunder's first game - the BBL season opener against the Melbourne Stars at Manuka Oval on December.

Manuka has been rewarded for helping save the BBL during the pandemic with the first game of the upcoming campaign, while it will also host the Thunder-Melbourne Renegades clash on January 19 as part of Cricket ACT's 100^th birthday celebrations.

He was relishing the chance of returning to Manuka, which he rated as one of his favourite grounds.

The Thunder have lost their captain, with Usman Khawaja returning home to Brisbane, and Davies felt they'd be a dangerous BBL team because they have nothing to lose.

"It's a great wicket. We always seem to get almost a sellout crowd every time we go down there," Davies said.

"The atmosphere's always really good, but personally it would be in my top-three favourite grounds to play at.

"We've got a bit of a fresh start with a new captain - I'm unsure who we're going with yet.

"I think it could be a pretty young squad, which is pretty exciting. We've got a lot to prove us young guys, but also no real big expectations as well.

"I feel like we're a bit of a dark horse this year, but it's going to be an exciting year ... I think we're going to have a good season."

The Thunder will also play a New Year's Eve game in Albury against the Hobart Hurricanes.

Davies expected they would be ringing in the New Year with some of the locals who'd watched them played.

"If we do go out I assume we'll be going out with a lot of people who were at the ground," he said.

"That'll be a good chance for some of the locals to get to know us. I'm looking forward to it."

CANBERRA'S SUMMER OF CRICKET AT MANUKA OVAL

Men's T20Is: Australia v England on October 12 and 14. Both games at 6.40pm.

WBBL: Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Renegades, November 15 at 7.10pm.

BBL: Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Stars, December 13; Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Renegades, January 19.

Women's T20I: Australia v Pakistan on January 29 at 1.45pm.

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