England batter Dan Lawrence, one of England’s top batting talents, has been drafted in as the Desert Vipers’ first wildcard player. And he is ready to give the selectors – at the Vipers and England – a headache.
The 26-year-old enjoyed an excellent summer of shortform cricket in the top three for Essex in the T20 Blast and London Spirit in The Hundred. And in his latest assignment ahead of the DP World ILT20 he has been opening the batting for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.
That stint as an opener in Australia included 50 in 26 balls on debut against the Adelaide Strikers – including new Vipers team-mate Adam Hose – and Dan said he was keen to bat at the top of the order again in the UAE, although he added that competition for those spots would be fierce.
“I will bat wherever I am told in the ILT20, but as a batter you want to have as much time as you possibly can,” he told the Vipers Voices podcast. “Being in the top three allows you to do that and score some big runs. I will first focus on trying to get into the team and then I will focus on where to bat.
“I have had a look at the list of players and there is some fierce competition and so we will just have to wait until I get there and see what happens.”
Dan is the Vipers’ first wildcard pick for the new season of a tournament that gets underway on Friday 19 January.
The wildcard is a new development for this season with each franchise allowed to pick two wildcard players, extending the squad limit to 24 players, while also expanding the spending purse limit by US$250,000. Wildcard players can be brought in by teams at any time in the tournament, but once framed, cannot be replaced.
Explaining why he ended up in the tournament via the wildcard route, Dan said: “I was not selected in the ILT20 draft because I was going to be away potentially playing for England, but that did not happen.
“I am very grateful to get the opportunity to play with the Vipers and hopefully we can have a good season.”
Slotting into the Vipers squad will be a case of many happy returns for Dan, in three senses.
The right-hander is back in the league after playing three matches for the Dubai Capitals last season. He is also linking up with his first captain in first-class cricket, James Foster, the Vipers’ head coach. And he is back in the UAE after taking part in the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament late last year, his third time in that competition.
“I was lucky to play a few (DP World ILT20) games last year and it is good to come back this year with a little bit of a feel of how the competition works,” he said. “Us English cricketers spend quite a lot of time in the year playing cricket in Dubai, so we know the conditions really well. For me now, it is all about going out there and performing.”
And fitting in to the Vipers dressing room should be no problem for the hard-hitting Lawrence, whose top-order power helped propel Essex to the final of the T20 Blast in the UK in 2023.
“I know quite a few of the boys,” he said. “Now that all of us get to play quite a bit of franchise cricket we also have time to get to know each other off the field. I know James Foster, my first county captain at Essex, I know Alex Hales quite well and I know Luke Wood quite well as we played together in the T10. I know Daz Veness the fitness coach too, and so there a lot of people I know.”
James Foster said he was delighted to welcome his former team-mate into the Vipers fold for the campaign.
“I have known Dan Lawrence for a long time, on and off the field, and I know the qualities he will bring to the Vipers,” he said.
“He is a positive influence in the dressing room, and having a player of his quality joining our squad is fantastic news.
“He is an aggressive 360 degree batter who has the unique ability to play a variety of roles, and he is a quality off spin bowler who will give us extra options with the ball.
“Dan is a top-quality signing and I look forward to welcoming him into the Vipers set-up for this campaign.”
Dan, who left Essex for Surrey when the 2023 UK season ended, is better known as a Test player and has never been capped by England in white ball cricket. In the longest format he has been impressive in the 11 Tests he has played, scoring 551 runs, including four fifties, and a highest score of 91 coming against the West Indies in Barbados in 2022.
But his shortform record is mightily impressive too, and he was a standout player last summer.
In The Hundred, Dan was second-highest run-scorer for London Spirit with 151 runs at a strike-rate of 164.13. And in the T20 Blast he finished as Essex’s second-highest run-scorer, with 386 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 153.1 as his side went all the way to the final, where they lost to Somerset.
Dan said he was hoping his stint with the Vipers could help to propel him into the forefront of the England selectors’ minds when it comes to white ball cricket.
“Playing for England in white ball cricket is massively on my agenda,” he said. “I have not got to play as much franchise cricket as I would have liked to over the last two years because I have been travelling around a lot with England in the Test match squad.
“Test matches have always been my priority and something I have wanted to achieve and succeed in, but playing for England in any format is an honour and something I have got my eye on.
“Realistically, I think there are a few boys ahead of me in the white ball set-up (for England) but playing in franchise leagues and performing can only enhance my case, and in cricket things can change really quickly.
“If I start banging out the runs then there is no reason why I cannot be in the (England white ball) mix.
“England are blessed with some high-quality T20 players across the country and I have not been able to play as much white ball cricket as others so I feel a little bit away from it (England white ball selection) at the moment, which is fine, purely because I have put all my eggs in the red ball basket over the past couple of years.
“Now I have got the opportunity to go and play some white ball cricket, hopefully that will change.”
The batter said he was bullish about Desert Vipers’ chances of lifting the trophy after finishing as runners-up in the inaugural edition, losing out to Gulf Giants in the final in 2023.
“Hundred percent (the Desert Vipers can go one better in season two). If you look through the names on our squad it looks unmatched to anyone else.
“If everyone plays close to their potential, then I think the Vipers have a great chance. We have a lot of experience and a lot of exciting cricketers, and I do not see why that team should not have success. This is an exciting time to be a part of the Vipers and hopefully we can go one better.”
The DP World ILT20 gets underway on Friday 19 January and the Desert Vipers’ first match is against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday 21 January.
Tickets for all Desert Vipers matches are now on sale and can be purchased via the official DP World ILT20 website or at any Virgin Megastore across the UAE.
