Desert Vipers Director of Cricket Tom Moody wants his players to focus on the present – namely Qualifier 1 against MI Emirates on December 30, rather than thinking too much about the final that could follow for the side after that match.
Speaking to the Vipers Voices podcast, the ICC Cricket World Cup winner said that, coming up against an impressive MI Emirates side, the Desert Vipers just needed to approach the game in the right way.
“They are a strong side and obviously well led by (Kieron) Pollard, who is one of the most decorated T20 players in the history of the game,” Moody said.
“They are always a tough opponent and they always put together a very strong squad with world-class match winners so we know we need to be at our best with regards to facing them, particularly in an environment where they are very familiar at Abu Dhabi.
“They play most of their games there so that is an advantage for them, to have an understanding of the ground and the surface there.
“But at the end of the day I think the most important thing is we just concentrate on exactly what we need to be doing to execute our perfect game. You are not really playing the opposition as such; you are playing the ball.”
The Desert Vipers are accustomed to playing under pressure this season, with five of their eight wins coming in the final over. And Moody said the team’s successes in those tight matches was a positive for the players and coaching staff to take forward into Tuesday’s match.
“I think it is a great sign and I think having a lot of close games is really important,” he said. “If we had won 80 percent of our matches in the group stage and absolutely smashed the opposition every single time I would be more concerned.
“It is nice to be able to have that taste of pressure and knowing how to get over the line when we are in that sort of situation. It gives some important lessons for the team and, more importantly, it builds trust within the playing group for a player to know that if it is not their day, then he can have got trust and faith in others because they have shown that they can do it.”
Cooler temperatures in the United Arab Emirates have led to a change in conditions across venues, and dew has become more noticeable. This means the toss too has become more significant. But Tom Moody said the Vipers had to be able to adapt, even if they lost the toss in upcoming matches.
“I have always taken the view that they (the toss and the dew) are uncontrollable,” he said. “From my perspective, the mindset that we need to be sharing amongst the playing group is that it does not matter.
“Yes, ideally we want to be in a situation where we are chasing runs when there is dew around, and not fielding when the ball is wet and bowling when the ball is wet.
“But, at the end of the day, that is out of our control. It is on the toss of a coin and if it does not fall in our favour, we cannot afford to have a headspace thinking negatively around the match before a ball is even bowled.
“We just need to adapt. A lot of players have dealt with fielding and bowling with heavy dew conditions over their careers. It is a case of taking learnings from those experiences and applying them in the finals series.”
The Desert Vipers go into the play-offs as the most successful team this season, with eight wins out of ten played in the league stage. But Moody said the switch to the finals series meant a new approach would be necessary,
“I think it is all about drawing on the positive experiences we have had over the last three or four weeks and learning from the good and the bad. because I do not think we have played our very best cricket throughout this tournament,” he said.
“We have certainly played more consistently as the tournament has unfolded but we can constantly improve and I think the focus on improvement is more important than worrying about the fact that we have got to win to secure a spot in the last day of the tournament at the grand final.
“I think once you get too caught up looking at the consequences of winning and losing finals or matches, you can find yourself thinking too negatively with your approach and I think if we just take that positive outlook and draw on the experience we have had, concentrate on just trying to put together our perfect game, both with bat, ball and in the field, and if we do that then we should be in good hands.”
And the man who was twice part of Australia squads that won the ICC Cricket World Cup, in 1987 and1999, said the key to winning a trophy was to not think about the silverware.
“You do not look at the prize, as simple as that,” said Moody. “Yes, we all want to be successful. Yes, we all want to win trophies but, at the end of the day, if you get too obsessed with that mission of winning a trophy, you end up falling short of trying to achieve that.
“We have had a couple of bites at the cherry with regards to winning finals and we have fallen short but I do not think that was down to us getting too focused or obsessed with trying to win.
“I think that it was just that we did not play our best cricket on the day. So, that needs to be our focus (starting with the match against MI Emirates). Individually, the players need to look at how they can bring their best game to the day and then make those adaptations around conditions or the opposition as quickly as they possibly can.”
The Desert Vipers next play against MI Emirates in Qualifier 1 on December 30, at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Stadium, starting at 6:30pm.
