Dubai, UAE (December 23, 2024) – Desert Vipers new boy David Payne wants to use the upcoming DP World ILT20 to push his case for a recall to the England white ball squad in 2025.
The left-arm swing and seam bowler spearheaded Gloucestershire’s charge to the 2024 T20 Blast title in England and Wales earlier this year, taking an incredible 33 wickets in 17 matches, and form like that prompted the Vipers to swoop for his signature.
His consistent performances were not enough to earn Payne a return to national colours, having previously played a One-Day International against the Netherlands in 2022.
But speaking to the Vipers Voices podcast ahead of season three of the UAE’s own Twenty20 franchise tournament, he said: “The ILT20 is the perfect stage for me to keep pushing my case (to play for England).
“The standard of this competition is such that if I can perform well then that will be my way of knocking on the door for England and saying: ‘I am still here.’
“It is the perfect showcase to try and get my name back in the fold.”
When this year’s T20 Blast got underway in late May, Gloucestershire was not one of the sides fancied to lift the title but, with Payne leading the way, they produced a stunning series of performances in the knockout stages to lift the title.
And the player who lined up alongside England greats Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Joe Root at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2010 was quick to pinpoint why he enjoyed such personal success as part of the team glory.
“It was a pretty special summer for myself and the team and I put a large part of it down to it being the first summer that I was purely just a white-ball player. Previous to that I played all formats and it takes a lot out of you.
“Normally going into the Blast season I would have played six or seven red-ball games, bowled hundreds of overs and been pretty fatigued already from the first couple of months of the season.
“Being able to go into the Blast campaign feeling really fresh and motivated really did, I think, play a huge part in the success that I had. My body and my mind were a lot fresher. I think it was the first time I entered a Blast campaign being able to give it absolutely 100 per cent of my ability. I was in a great mindset and physical space and everything clicked.”
Payne now stands in third place in the list of all-time wicket-takers in the T20 Blast, a competition that started in 2003. His 193 wickets make him the leading seam and swing bowler too, with only spinners Danny Briggs (248) and Samit Patel (218) ahead of him.
“That stat kind of crept up on me last season,” he said. “I always knew I had done well in the Blast but it was team-mate Tom Smith at Gloucestershire who put that on my radar. It is something I am very proud of and I just want to keep adding as many wickets as I can to that tally.
“It took me by surprise but it made me proud at what I have achieved. One of my strengths has always been that I have never been content to stay still and I have always tried to keep evolving in white ball cricket.
“Last season was the first time in a long time that I really stuck to trying to swing the ball at the top of the innings with not too many slower balls. Earlier in my career that mixing up of my pace was effective, but batters tend to work you out. If you keep playing, doing the same thing, then you will get worked out.
“(My motto is) try and keep evolving, try and keep ahead of the batters, because they are always trying to add to their game so I need to keep adding to my game as it is a game of cat and mouse with the batters.”
Payne’s build-up to the DP World ILT20 has involved indoor sessions at the Gloucestershire headquarters in Bristol in the south west of England and a spell at the Abu Dhabi T10, playing for the Bangla Tigers.
And he said that time in the UAE ahead of January and February’s action was the perfect tune-up for what was to come.
“The T10 was a great warm-up, a great introduction to the ILT20 for me,” said Payne. “To see the conditions in Abu Dhabi was incredibly useful. The pitches were good, pretty batter-friendly, and it has given me a lot of learnings to take into January.
“I found the time of day you played made a lot of difference to the conditions you could expect. In the nights, especially if there was a drop of dew, it felt like the ball swung for a lot longer. In one game where I bowled the sixth over, there was still a hint of swing even then and that was pleasing to see.
“During the day, it was drier, there was less swing and that meant going to my skills as a bowler a little earlier with maybe some slower balls, for example.”
That time in the UAE certainly whetted Payne’s appetite for the battles ahead with the Vipers – and he said he was full of optimism for the campaign and, after his success with Gloucestershire, full of the knowledge of what was needed to make a winning team.
“The squad that has been put together is really exciting on and off the field,” he said. “The environment around a team is so important in helping to produce success and I look at our list and think it is going to be such a fun environment and a fun dressing room to be a part of.
“When you bring a new squad together it can be quite a challenge to gel that side quickly. But the quicker you can do that so you are playing for each other, if you can get that feeling then, from my experience, you tend to get more success that way rather than having a group of individuals playing for themselves and trying to do well.
“The one thing I can say about Gloucestershire is that we are a very close-knit changing room, we have got that family vibe, everyone has got each other’s backs.
“(With the Desert Vipers) I would be amazed if we were not up there and challenging for the title this season. I love the bowling group we have got together and I love the fact we have gone left-arm heavy as I think that is going to be such a point of difference. It is attacking and something batters will not have faced too much of.
“I also think we have such a strong breadth of batting in terms of covering all bases with power and with touch. I just think it is a well-rounded squad that in my eyes should really be competing for the title.”
The Desert Vipers first match of the 2025 DP World ILT20 is on day two of the tournament, against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, starting at 2pm.
David Payne’s full interview on the Vipers Voices podcast is available via all major podcast platforms. It can also be heard and downloaded here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2092289/episodes/16295469