And breathe. The DP World ILT20 Tournament has come to a close, and we’ve had a chance to rest and recover after a rollercoaster of a tournament. For me, it was my first ever experience working within a sporting environment, and the range of emotions I felt was something that I’ve never experienced before. Going into the tournament, I didn’t really have any concrete expectations of what the experience would be like, so I kept quite an open mind, but it was more fun, intense, and rewarding than I could have imagined.
One of the key things which made the tournament so enjoyable was the team spirit within the group. I expected that sports teams were segmented, with different groups sticking within their own factions. However, with the Vipers, that expectation couldn’t have been further from reality: players, coaches, and management all interacted freely and frequently. At dinner, you would often see different groups sitting and chatting with each other, none more so than during the several Team Dinners we had. After each match, whether we won or lost, most people would head to the Team Room to have a drink and play some table tennis to switch off and have a bit of downtime. This team spirit felt so important in harnessing the energy to go again, particularly during the busy period where we had 6 games in 9 days. Finally, on a personal level, I had the opportunity to start the mornings with a quick swim in the sea with our Director of Cricket, Tom Moody, and Fielding Coach, Simon Helmot, forming a ‘Swim Club’. This was a great chance for me to get to know two of our coaching staff better, and chat to them about the best way to engage players with our sustainability mission, as well as an opportunity to get fit and start the day right!
On the pitch, it didn’t turn out to be the season we had hoped for. Some unfortunate losses by a single run meant that we just missed out on the knockout rounds, despite showing some flashes of brilliance and putting in a tremendous effort. The competitiveness of the League this year was strong, with a very tight league table meaning that every win counted. Ultimately, we just fell short, but we will be back next season, stronger than ever.
Highlights of some of the things we achieved
However, off the pitch we still got on the scoreboard and scored wins, particularly in relation to sustainability, in what was the first full season where we were actively considering sustainability throughout everything we did. With sustainability, there are always lots of small things which cumulatively add up, but I’d like to focus on three big areas which were a success this season:
- Water
This season, we achieved our goal of eliminating single-use plastic water bottles from our team environment. This was a huge win for us, as it meant that we prevented the use of several thousand (a full analysis on the quantity reduced will come in due course) plastic water bottles from our team. We achieved this goal through installing state-of-the-art Bluewater filtration units at the three grounds we played at, and providing our players with high-quality water bottles which they could refill using these units at the dugout. We also installed water machines (with reusable 5L water drums) at our training facilities and in the Team Room and Treatment Room, so this initiative extended beyond match days. It was encouraging to see that players were really quick to change their habits and quickly got used to the idea of refilling their bottles, rather than just getting a new one every time, showing that rapid change is possible, if the solutions are implemented properly. I hope players who are now at their next franchise are looking at the single-use water bottles with a different lens, and are questioning why that is the norm in sport!
- Awareness
The second positive from Season 2 was us putting sustainability front and centre in our stakeholders’ minds. Most visibility, we placed our Net Zero pledge on the centre of our match kit, actually turning down sponsorship opportunities to ensure that the world knows about our sustainability commitment. With a TV audience in the millions, we’ve managed to show all of these viewers what we stand for, and for some who didn’t know what Net Zero was before, they might now have a bit of a better understanding. We also engaged with the League around our sustainability commitments and activations; in particular, around our Sustainability Match (more of which is detailed in the next paragraph). Finally, we engaged all personnel at the team in sustainability, with dedicated training sessions for our management team, and engaging in conversations with players and coaches around sustainability and why we’re placing it at the centre of our franchise. Overall, it was a really positive start to engaging all of our stakeholders, from the fans to players, to management to the League, and is something that we’re excited to continue with and expand upon next season.
- Sustainability Match
Finally, my personal favourite of our wins this season was our Sustainability Match, and not just because we also won on the field that game! This match, on 3rd February vs Gulf Giants, was an opportunity for us to celebrate all that we had done so far in relation to sustainability, engage people around the topic, and try a few new ideas as well. We had dozens of different initiatives during the day, ranging from the most visible of playing in green, to giving a speech to hundreds of schoolchildren on sustainability with Toby Gregory, to placing carbon footprint information on meals in hospitality. We also featured our sustainability video on the big screen and on TVs, which was a personal highlight. It was great to receive support from the League around this match and get them to be a part of our sustainability drive, and hopefully they saw some of the benefits of doing so. Overall, it was an incredibly momentous day, and a superb starting block for what a future sustainable sports event could look like. Stay tuned for a full report of the day!
Sustainability Spotlight - Biodegradable Golf Balls
This week’s Sustainability Spotlight features an organisation who are a little different, as they are actually in the field of golf, not cricket! This organisation is Biodegradable Golf Balls, and we are pleased to share that they have become one of our Sustainability Suppliers. Some of you may be wondering how golf relates to cricket, but anyone who has worked in cricket will know that players love to play golf in their downtime. Golf has a unique place in cricketers’ hearts, which is rather similar to other professional sports; for example, the infamous Gareth Bale quote where he ranked golf above his club, Real Madrid! However, golf has quite a large environmental footprint, due to the fertiliser and water used on the courses, plus the machinery required to maintain them. One additional area of environmental damage from golfing is actually from the balls themselves. Traditional golf balls are often coated in heavy metals (e.g., Zinc Oxide), and contain plastics. When these golf balls end up in the sea, they can have damaging effects on marine life, by leaching toxic chemicals and microplastics into the water. However, the balls from Biodegradable Golf Balls feature no such harmful chemicals, and are water soluble and biodegradable, taking around two weeks to dissolve in water. This is why we have partnered with them, to provide products to our players so that they can have fun on the course knowing that their golf balls are not causing harm to wildlife, showing that we are focussed not just on greening our own activities as a franchise, but helping our players to make more sustainable choices, and actively promoting products do not cause harm for nature.
