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SYDNEY Thunder, meet the Quetta Bears.
Haven't heard of them? Well, maybe it's time you two got better acquainted.
The Pakistan-based team represent the holy grail of Twenty20 incompetence, having lost 28 matches in a row in a streak that began in April 2005..
That first loss set the tone for the Bears, with fearsome Rawalpindi Rams fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar taking 5-23.
The Bears almost ended their streak in December, 2012, against the Abbottabad Falcons, but, true to form went down in a one-over eliminator after the match ended in a tie.
The Thunder still have some catching up to do, but their loss to Hobart on Saturday pushed them ahead of Zimbabwe and Jammu & Kashmir into outright second place.
Tonight they travel to Melbourne to take on a Renegades side that welcomes back paceman James Pattinson and opener Aaron Finch, who smashed a ton for Australia in the one-day international on Sunday.
David Warner and Chris Gayle were one-time Sydney Thunder openers. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Limited
The little-known Bears boast few big names, outside Imran Khan, who unfortunately is no relation to the Pakistan great.
The Thunder, meanwhile, have had the likes of Chris Gayle, David Warner, Michael Clarke, Usman Khawaja, Eoin Morgan, Michael Hussey wear the electric green.
In a sport where luck often plays a huge part, it's an impressively inept feat to fall short so many times in a row.
But as Quetta proved, it's possible to keep on losing… and losing... and losing.
Michael Clarke hasn't played too many games for Sydney Thunder. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Limited
Plagued by poor administration, a lack of resources and inadequate training facilities in the first two seasons, Cricket NSW began pouring far more attention into the struggling western Sydney franchise before the start of their current Big Bash League campaign.
Their former coach Shane Duff was replaced by Chandika Hathurusinghe, who used his Sri Lankan connections to recruit two of the country's biggest names in Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis.
The addition of Hussey was another major step in the right direction, but injuries to Khawaja and Dilshan and the loss of Morgan to England's limited-overs squad have hurt the already hurting Thunder.
"It's a shame that we don't have something to show for the progress, because we feel we've made tremendous progress," Thunder. general manager Nick Cummins said.
"But at the end of the day you get judged by wins and losses, so the 'W' and 'L' columns suggest we've made no progress at all, when we know that's not the case.''
The Thunder will face Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan at Etihad Stadium and while the 41-year-old does feel for his struggling opponents, the Renegades have a semi-final spot to play for.
"If we start winning then we can go further in the tournament," Muralitharan said.
"We have a chance so it's up to us to grab it. We're going to play our best cricket on the day because we need the win badly, unlike them, because we can qualify.
"It's hard for them. It's a disappointment for them not winning a game for 19 games."
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