USA wicketkeeper-batter Andries Gous has given the Desert Vipers a timely boost with the news that he is close to a return to action after missing five games due to a calf injury. Gous sustained the injury in the team’s fourth match against MI Emirates, but has been working hard with the team’s physiotherapist Nirmalan (‘Nirm’) Thanabalasingam and strength and conditioning coach Darren (‘Daz’) Veness to regain his fitness to play.
“It was a frustrating few days, but it is good to be finally back with the option of being selected for the playing XI,” Gous told the Vipers Voices podcast. “It was just a small tear in my calf that happened on the night of that fourth game, so luckily it has healed now and I am all ready to go.” Gous spent his enforced lay-off watching the action, often alongside the franchise’s backroom staff, including fielding coach Simon Helmot, batting coach Neil McKenzie and Director of Cricket Tom Moody.
And he said that was time well spent soaking up their collective experience and wisdom.
“I tried to get some information out of all of the coaches,” Gous said. “I sat next to Simon Helmot and Neil Mckenzie, as well as Tom Moody.
“I was just trying to pick their brain a little bit about cricket, about what was happening in the game as well.
“I was trying to learn what I could so that when I came back into the team I could try and be a little bit better than I was before. It has been really good to speak to these brilliant people and obviously I was able to learn a lot by watching cricket as well. So that has been really good on a positive side.”Following the Vipers’ four-wicket loss to MI Emirates, Gous said he felt the side’s final league match, against the Sharjah Warriors on December the 26th, was crucial for the team to recapture some momentum ahead of the play-offs.
“It (defeat to MI Emirates) was a tough one, because obviously we made a few changes as well. We lost our skipper (Lockie Ferguson, who went off injured) halfway through his overs, so you never know what could have happened if he had finished the game.
“I think definitely in this Sharjah game coming up, we want to just make sure we play to our ability, whatever the result is. We just want to make sure that we get into a certain mindset where we can go to the play-offs very positive and play the brand of cricket that we want to play.
“I think that is probably more important than the result for this upcoming game but obviously winning is a habit, so we want to get back into that winning circle and make sure that we can just keep it going.”
An added incentive for victory against the Warriorz is that it would make the Desert Vipers the first side in the history of the DP World ILT20 to win eight regular season games, a milestone that Gous said excited him. “That sounds incredible. Just from the start of the season, you can feel there has been something special brewing in this team. We run an unbelievable culture.
“I am just really excited to be part of this again. It is so good to be in a team where everybody supports each other and the love for cricket is evident whenever we play, and the care for each other is there.
“So, I am not surprised that we are seven wins out of nine games. Hopefully we can get that one more and break the record.”
The Desert Vipers next play the Sharjah Warriorz on Friday, December 26th, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, starting at 6:30 pm.
