Decorated cricket coach Mickey Arthur has coached four international teams and knows what it takes to succeed at the ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League (GSL), having led Bangladesh’s Rangpur Riders to the title in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2024.
Ahead of the Desert Vipers’ first appearance at Providence Stadium, Arthur offered several key pieces of advice.
Speaking to Vipers Voices Arthur said: “My advice would be embrace the conditions. Embrace it. Guyana is a different place to go to. Enjoy the carnival atmosphere. Enjoy the noise. Enjoy the sounds. Enjoy the colour.
“But embrace the conditions because it is going to be different to what you have experienced before. Embrace the conditions, prepare well. And I see no reason why the Vipers, having had a look at the composition of their side, will not have a very good chance in this tournament.”
New Zealander Tom Bruce, a member of the Desert Vipers’ DP World ILT20-winning squad in Season 4, also joined the Vipers Voices discussion on the team’s strategy for the Guyana tournament. Bruce brings previous GSL experience, having captained New Zealand’s Central Stags last year, Season 2 of that tournament, and he said he was confident the Vipers could adapt to the conditions and perform well in Guyana.
“I honestly think the squad that the Vipers have assembled will be very well equipped to deal with these conditions,” he said. “I think a lot of the players would have played on the slower surfaces that will be expected and spin is going to play a big part. I think they are a very well-balanced team so I certainly think they will be able to put their best foot forward.
“(Conditions) can be tough, (and) can be challenging and there will be spin throughout the middle (overs of a batting innings), but having your boundary options and knowing how to rotate the strike as well is massive. I think they will be well equipped to deal with the conditions that are in front of them.”
Mickey Arthur is currently Director of Cricket at English county side Derbyshire, the latest role of an incredible coaching career. He has been head coach of four different international teams: South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
He was on the ground with Rangpur for their trophy-winning effort in 2024 and then managed the team remotely last year when they were runners-up to Guyana Amazon Warriors, and Arthur said having a core of players with Guyana experience was a key reason for their impressive efforts.
“I think in year one we kind of found a formula. We lost our first game against Hampshire and then found a formula that we thought would work for us and it was very simple: bat first, (put) runs on the board and then try and strangle them (the opposition) with your spin.
“Our seam bowlers went straight at the stumps and kept the stumps in play all the time as the wicket was quite slow and (the ball) tended to skid on and stay a little bit low. So, again, that was the formula that we worked with.
“And then (in Season 2) we tried to get players in that complemented the game plan and the strategy that we were going to use. We got to the final again and then lost it but it kind of worked in the way we wanted it to in terms of conditions, in terms of playing personnel that we employed and in terms of our game plan.”
The Desert Vipers’ four group stage matches of the GSL include three nighttime games and one match during the day. Both Mickey Arthur and Tom Bruce explained how conditions do vary between the two timings.
“It (the conditions) definitely does vary (between day and night matches),” said Arthur. “And as the competition goes on, you start playing on used wickets. So, early in the competition, you get the better of the conditions.
“What we did find was there was a lot of dew around in the evening games. The ball potentially did skid on just a little bit more and the ball got wet for the spinners so that was tough to work with.
“But we trained for that, we would dip balls in water to make sure that our spinners could grip the ball and had practised that. I thought in our preparation, the one percenters we used there were spot on. If we were going to employ our game plan and strategy, invariably the spinners were going to bowl with wet balls and they did it and controlled it really, really well.
Tom Bruce added: “The (conditions for the) day games felt very slow and it was quite difficult to score. And when it did get under lights, obviously, it did skid on a bit more. There was a bit of a dew factor as well.
“It certainly felt a bit easier (to bat) under lights. Albeit, you still had a lot of very good bowlers that were able to extract turn under lights or nip the ball off the seam.
“I like to think that the best teams exploit conditions and are also able to adapt to them as quickly as possible, which in the end is probably why you saw that Guyana Amazon Warriors team take out the title. I thought they were very well-balanced and they had a lot of superstars across the park.”
The Global Super League in Guyana is a five-team event that will take place at Providence Stadium from July 23 to August 1. Alongside the Vipers will be hosts and defending champions the Guyana Amazon Warriors, the Perth Scorchers, the Lahore Qalandars and the San Francisco Unicorns.
Speaking to Vipers Voices both Tom Bruce and Mickey Arthur admitted they were fans of the tournament and the coming together of top franchise teams from across the globe.
Mickey Arthur said: “I think it is a great concept and I think it is very well supported, particularly the matches involving the Guyana side. Financially, it is very well supported. Guyana is now a wealthy country with them finding oil there. They have thrown a bit of money at the competition as a kind of advertisement for Guyana as a country.”
Arthur added that the tournament being conducted in one place was a huge advantage.
“It (GSL) is very well run, very well organised. So logistically, it just works very well. You are in one hotel, it is one venue, training facilities are good. So it was a pleasure to be part of a competition that has been so well organised. And it is one that certainly provides a lot of excitement, especially to the people of Guyana.”
Tom Bruce added: “I thought it was brilliant. Giving teams the chance to play against other teams and other franchise leagues from other parts of the world is fantastic. Especially for us (Central Stags) last year, being a domestic team, the majority of the team had not played any franchise cricket before.
“It certainly opened guys’ eyes to what it was all about and how you had to go about your business there. So, for our team, it was an unbelievable experience. And I certainly think it is a great concept, a great tournament to bring the best teams from around the world and their respective leagues together to crown one champion.”
