The Desert Vipers have set a new record for most successive wins in a DP World ILT20 season after a sixth straight victory, this one achieved in their annual Sustainability Match. The Vipers defeated the Dubai Capitals by five wickets with two balls to spare, chasing a target of 167. 

Sam Curran was awarded Player of the Match for his unbeaten knock of 52, along with a superb showing with the ball, where he took two wickets and gave away just 17 runs in three overs. 

Earlier the players donned a special match kit for the annual Sustainability Match inspired by the ‘Biodiversity Stripes’ representing the decline of global wildlife populations. 

Speaking about the annual event, Desert Vipers CEO Phil Oliver said he was proud of what the team had achieved so far: “We started this initiative over two years ago now, turning the Desert Vipers into the most sustainable cricket franchise in the world. We have made great progress, but we know there is a lot more to do.

“Our focus this year is very much on conservation and biodiversity. We have played in green for the whole tournament this time, and rather than making our Sustainability Match a one-off green thing, we thought we would do something very special and focus on nature and conservation which is now a central part of what we are doing as a franchise. 

“As well as connecting with local communities throughout the schools programme, our talent pathway, and working with a wide range of local companies, we are working very hard to make the connection between nature and sport. Because if there is something that I want everyone to take away from today, it is the notion that there is no sport without nature.”

Desert Vipers Head of Strategy Matt Bailey added: “We are lucky to have a really strong suite of partners behind us that support us in our work. It was a delight to see Carrefour Majid Al Futtaim, the leading supermarket here in the UAE. They are a returning partner of the team.

“And the focus of our work with them is around healthy eating and nutrition for young people. It is called the Bright Bites campaign. They have really fun characters, healthy snacks and special lunch boxes.

“We have agreed an important partnership with Middlesex University, where they are bringing in sports science to their curriculum in a very exciting way through an initiative that launches next January with a high-performance centre and strength and conditioning training. That is just another example of an amazing community partner that we have here in Dubai.

“The RAW Coffee Company is also another key partner and the exercise bike powering up their activation in the fan village was enjoyable. That partnership is about wellness through fitness and our effort there is to have a positive impact on the communities around us.”

The kit featured in the team photo before the match, where players held placards saying ‘Play for People and the Planet’ to emphasize their commitment to sustainability.

While fans packed the stadium, the Crickmas fan zone was bustling with activations organised by the Desert Vipers along with the DP World ILT20.

The partners of the Desert Vipers showed their support for the team’s sustainability efforts. Middlesex University handed out giveaway packs, while Bright Bites —Carrefour’s healthy snacking brand for children — sold nutritious snacks and hosted games where kids could win goodie bags.

The RAW Coffee Company’s “cycle-to-charge” activity was extremely popular, inviting visitors to test their fitness with the reward of a tasty coffee after a brief workout. 

Additionally, top coaches from the Vipers’ elite Talent Pathway Programme offered free coaching and fitness sessions for children in the fan zone.

On the field, the Vipers restricted the Capitals to 166 for four in their 20 overs before knocking off the runs, the match concluding with a Sam Curran six.

Here is a quick review of the match:

Match Scores: 

Toss: Desert Vipers 

Dubai Capitals: 166/4 (20 overs)

Top scorer: Leus du Plooy 54 (44 deliveries)

Top wicket-taker: Sam Curran 2-17

Desert Vipers: 171/5 (19.4 overs)

Top scorer: Sam Curran 52 not out (33) 

Match Result: Desert Vipers won by five wickets 

Player of the Match: Sam Curran 

Here are some quotes from the Vipers Voices post-match vodcast and podcast featuring Head Coach James Foster:

On winnings six games on the trot: 

“We are very happy. Six from six, if you had said the team would be here at the start of the campaign, I would have been absolutely over the moon. It was a challenging win today, against a good team on a challenging pitch. We adapted and got the win, so I am delighted.”

On how to avoid complacency setting in after qualifying for the play-offs with six wins in a row: 

“You just keep resetting after every game. We all go about our business. We do our research on the opposition, collectively and individually, whatever that might be.

“We prepare, we try and work out the right combinations to take on the opposition in the conditions. We just keep going about our business. Being six from six, there is no downside in that.

“As long as we are aware, and we have been, of a few areas that we can potentially improve on, that is exciting. We are playing well, and I also feel like there is more to come, which excites me as a coach, but also excites the group.”

Looking ahead to match against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on Tuesday:

“They are a very dangerous team, like every other team. It would be foolish to turn up and just expect us to rock up and for a win to happen. We will be prepared, we will be doing our due diligence.

“You do not take anything for granted in this game, and if you do, it is a very, very risky ploy. They are a dangerous outfit. They will be wanting to win some games, so they will be coming hot.

“They have got match-winners top to tail with the ball and with the bat, so we are going to have to turn up there, be engaged, be switched on and give it our best shot.”

The Desert Vipers maintained their winning start to this season’s DP World ILT20 with a fifth victory in five starts, this time against the Gulf Giants, with an eight-wicket win at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday night. 

Player of the match Khuzaima Bin Tanveer ripped a hole in the Giants’ top-order with a sensational new-ball spell, capturing four for 10.

And although the Giants rallied through Asif Khan (36 not out) and Liam Dawson (38 not out from 14 balls), their final total of 157 for seven proved comfortably within the Vipers’ range.

Max Holden, opening in place of the injured Andries Gous, made an unbeaten 64 from only 41 balls, and he shared a superb, unbroken stand of 123 for the third wicket with Sam Curran (67 not out from 43 balls) as the team eased home with 19 balls in hand.

The Vipers are now four points clear of the second-placed Giants in the league table and are next in action on Sunday the 14^th of December, again at the Dubai International Stadium, when they face the Dubai Capitals, starting at 6.30pm.

That game is the Vipers’ Sustainability Match when they seek to shine a light on green issues.

Match Scores: 

Toss: Desert Vipers 

Gulf Giants: 157/7(20 overs)

Top scorer: Liam Dawson 38 not out (14 balls); 

Khuzaima Bin Tanveer four for 10.

Desert Vipers: 1658/2 (16.5 overs)

Top scorers: Sam Curran 67 not out (43) and Max Holden 64 not out (41 balls).

Match Result: Desert Vipers won by 8 wickets

Player of the Match: Khuzaima Bin Tanveer  

Here are some quotes from the Vipers Voices post-match vodcast and podcast featuring Desert Vipers top order batter Max Holden:

On scoring his first fifty of this season’s tournament:

“I was really pleased to contribute. I got a few in the MI Emirates game, (but was) obviously dismissed in interesting circumstances (when I was retired out for 42).

“I had a couple of days to digest what went on and refocus myself and I was really pleased (with how I played tonight). I found a bit more rhythm out there tonight and I was pleased to be able to see the job home and be there at the end.”

On batting with Sam Curran:

“He is obviously a great guy to bat with. He has a lot of experience and we have played a fair amount of cricket together, being the same age, growing up playing each other quite a lot and playing a bit of (England) under-19s together so we have known each other for quite a long time.

“I have played against him loads of times when he has played for Surrey and I have seen him play innings like that a fair few times in The Hundred and in the T20 Blast back home.

“It was great to be at the other end this time. He is really cool and composed, he knows exactly what he is doing, he waits for his match-up (such as when he hit three sixes off Liam Dawson) and when it is his time then he can take a bowler down.

“It was great to be at the other end and it was nice that we managed to see the job home together.”

On Khuzaima Bin Tanveer:

“He was fantastic. He has been superb all tournament so far with bat and ball. He is someone who stands up time and time again and tonight that was as good as it gets really, he did not really seem to miss his mark.

“He was steaming in and the other guys were backing him up as well, so it was a fantastic first ten overs. Maybe we did not quite finish the job as we would have liked, but sometimes that is the way it goes, and the opposition are allowed to play well as well.

“I think the way we chased the runs showed it was a good wicket and, thanks to ‘Khuzzy’ we did a lot of the hard work early on in that bowling innings to restrict them to a very chaseable target.”

On a perfect start to the tournament with five wins from five matches:

“We are a very experienced team and we know what we want to achieve. We have been setting out like all the other teams to win the tournament but it is obviously too early to think about that.

“There are still five more group games and we will be just be doing what we have done all tournament, which is take each game as it comes.

“We will prepare well for the Dubai Capitals next up and focus as hard as we can on each game. We have got a really good, well-rounded squad so hopefully guys at different points keep sticking their hands up.

“We will keep striving to improve. We have experienced players who set high standards and we will keep demanding more individually and as a team. We are still a long way from our goal and we will keep working to achieve it.”

The Desert Vipers next play the Dubai Capitals in the annual Sustainability Match on Sunday, December the 14th, at the Dubai International Stadium starting at 6:30 pm. 

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.”