Desert Vipers Director of Cricket Tom Moody has said the team will not be looking to replace injured USA wicketkeeper-batter Andries Gous, who suffered a calf injury in the side’s previous match, against MI Emirates.
Speaking to the Vipers Voices podcast, Moody said he was confident Gous would be back in action soon.
“We will not be looking at a replacement, but we are hopeful that it is going to be a ten-to-fourteen-day turnaround,” he said. “I know Nirm (Nirmalan Thanabalasingam), our physio, and Daz (Veness), our strength and conditioning trainer, will be working very hard to get him back on track.
“He is in superb hands. Here at JA The Resort we have got great facilities with regards to supporting recovery, whether it be getting into the pools or getting into the ocean itself and accelerating that recovery.”
As Andries Gous recovers from injury, Moody said Scotland and former New Zealand top-order batter Tom Bruce would fill in the Associate player role. But he added discussion on who would open in place of Gous remained undecided.
“We have certainly got options,” said Moody. “I have not sat down with the Head Coach James Foster to actually discuss what he thinks around how we are going to manage that gap.
“Tom Bruce will come into the team because you have got to play that Associate player, which is brilliant from our perspective because Tom Bruce is a high-quality player and he will welcome the opportunity. And he has come from quite a bit of cricket (in New Zealand), so it is not like he is coming out of the cold.”
Andries Gous’ injury on Tuesday required the talented UAE player Vriitya Aravind to step in to the wicketkeeper role against the MI Emirates and he made a winning contribution in the last ball run-out of AM Ghazanfar which secured the victory.
And Moody, an ICC Cricket World Cup winner with Australia in 1987 and 1999, said Vriitya was a joy to have around the team environment.
“He was very much on our radar when it came to the auction,” he admitted.
“I remember in the very first year we were very keen to secure his services here at Desert Vipers, which we unfortunately did not get at that point. But three years on we have managed to get him into our squad and I think evidence in the last game shows exactly why we were keen on him.
“Vriitya is a great team man and a versatile cricketer. Yes, his natural setting is at the top of the order (as a batter), but that is quite common in these environments where your best players tend to bat in the top order in their local cricket.
“But when you come up a level (to a tournament like the DP World ILT20) that ability to adapt and bat in different positions and have different roles is really important and it is also important for his development as well.
“The other aspect is that he is an absolute jet in the field, so he does not necessarily need to keep. He has been our best fielder when he has been in the field and when he had to take over with the gloves in the last game, it was a seamless transition. He was superb.
“His glove work to Noor Ahmed was unbelievable, considering he has had very little exposure to keeping to bowlers of that nature. And the clutch moment came at the very last ball, when he executed the run-out.”
With four wins from four games, the natural tendency would be to start looking ahead to the team’s chances of making it to the play-offs. But Moody believed it was too early to make those predictions.
“It would be a foolish mistake if we do (look too far ahead),” he said. “To me, our focus needs to be striving to play our best cricket. And I think we are operating at about 60 to 70 percent (of our capacity) at the moment.
“So, I would not be even looking at the (league) table from a team perspective. I would be looking purely at how we are going to find that extra 30 to 40 per cent to play our perfect game.
“That needs to be our focus rather than looking at the outcome of where we finish in the table. I think we keep it very much in our own control. I think that thought process would put us in a good position come the end of the tournament.”
Looking ahead to Friday’s match against the Gulf Giants, whom the Vipers beat through a super over on Monday night, Moody said the squad and coaching staff were only too aware of the challenge the Giants posed.
“There are a lot of learnings from the first game that we played against them, and they are a strong side,” he. said. “In saying that, when I look at all the teams in this tournament, I think it is a very balanced tournament when you look at it purely on paper.
“The Giants are a threat, there is no question. (Pathum) Nissanka is a very fine player, so it will be interesting to see whether he is in a position to return to the team (after injury). I think he is a massive loss if that is the case, purely because of the form that he offers, the quality he provides and his impact in the power play.
“We know we need to manage risk against this opposition, but we also need to manage the conditions in Dubai. The exciting opportunity for us is getting back to Dubai and understanding exactly how we bowl and how we need to bat during the different phases of that contest.”
