Dominic Thornely appointed head coach of New South Wales

"(I'm) extremely honoured and humbled,” said Thornely, soon after the announcement on Friday (July 12). “The NSW Breakers have got an amazing history ... they're pioneers of women's cricket, so to be able engage with their program, be involved with that and lead that program is really exciting. It's an opportunity for me to really evolve what women's cricket looks like here in NSW and allow (the Thunder and Sixers) to run their two separate programs.”

Thornely who was, for the last two months, working as the interim head coach of the squad, has made clear that he is not going to allow the team to rest on their laurels.

“My measure of success is more around the culture and the connectivity of this group. Yes, 20 out of 23 (titles) is an amazing feat, but we’ve also got to understand that the opposition definitely are coming and we’re respectful of that. It’s about the player you want to become because the rest then takes care of itself. You get results, you get runs, you get wickets and you get selected in good cricket teams,” he added.

Thornely, a batting allrounder, played 83 First-Class, 100 List-A and 57 T20s through his career. He was a member of a strong New South Wales team that won two Sheffield Shield and three domestic one-day titles. He also turned out for Mumbai Indians in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008.

"He came here for work experience about 25 years ago, was a wonderful young cricketer, played a lot of underage cricket for us and then graduated to the Blues, captained the Blues and now he's plying his trade as a coach," said David Moore, general manager, cricket performance at Cricket NSW. “This means a lot to people at Cricket NSW because Dom is a Blue through and through, whether it's male or female.”

This responsibility comes in addition to Thornely’s role as assistant coach of Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League.