• Director of Cricket Tom Moody on Fakhar Zaman: “What I like about him is that he is a genuine match-winner.”
  • Director of Cricket Tom Moody on whether Sam Curran can use the Vipers to push his case to be an all-format player for England again: “Without a doubt. I think the one thing with Sam is he's not short of determination and talent. He is incredibly focused and determined.”
  • Director of Cricket Tom Moody on Lockie Ferguson: “The real appeal with Lockie is that he has got that genuine pace, but he has also got some great cricketing smarts. To me, he is a pretty switched-on fast bowler. He knows how to use that pace to his advantage.
Listen to part two of the full interview with Tom Moody on the Vipers Voices
podcast available across various platforms:

Dubai, UAE (December 11, 2024) – Desert Vipers Director of Cricket Tom Moody is of the view that the combination of the full-time signing of all-rounder Sam Curran, the off- spin bowling options offered by Dan Lawrence, Lockie Ferguson’s pace and strategic thinking and Fakhar Zaman’s match-winning batting abilities are just some of the ingredients that make the team serious challengers in season three of the DP World ILT20.


England all-rounder Sam Curran, who joined up with the Desert Vipers for the back-end of season two after playing in the SA20 in South Africa, will not be available from the beginning of the upcoming tournament after putting pen to paper on a new deal.


And Moody, delighted at having the player after working with him during back-to-back Hundred successes in the United Kingdom, told the Vipers Voices podcast that one reason Sam chose the Vipers over the other franchise options available to him was the environment and culture of the team, based on what he experienced last season.

“It did not take any convincing at all (to get Sam back),” he said. “It was just a case of trying to fit it into his potential international calendar and how much we will see of him. “To have a player of his calibre that has got the experience he has got both internationally and in franchise cricket is going to be invaluable to us as a team.”Even though the impact sub which allows teams to replace players at any stage of a match is being continued in the upcoming tournament, something that some feel makes all-rounders less necessary, Moody said he felt Sam Curran added great value to the squad.

“I think Sam has shown over recent times that he can hold his own as a pure batter in the top six, along with being a specialist bowler,” said the former ICC Cricket World Cup winner.

“So yes, he is an all-rounder, but to me, he is in a pretty unique space where he is actually a player in this format that can comfortably put his hand up and say, ‘I can do either of these (batting and bowling) and be a specialist in either of these.’”

Sam Curran’s goal of playing all three formats of international cricket for England again is likely to be a great motivating factor for the player, and the Director of Cricket said he thought the player had every chance of national selection: “Oh, without a doubt. I think the one thing with Sam is he is not short of determination and talent. He is incredibly focused and determined.

“The other point to make is that (although) Sam has been around a long time, he is still in his mid-twenties. So really his career is only just starting. Most careers for international players, except for the absolute exceptional, start in the mid-twenties.”


Another star signing for the Vipers this season is Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman, who has an impressive 11 international white-ball hundreds to his name, including a double hundred in the One-Day International format.

With a strike rate of 133 in Twenty20 Internationals, Fakhar is a force to reckon with and can be used anywhere in the top order, but it is his ability to turn matches that Tom Moody said he was most excited about.

“What I like about Fakhar is that he is a genuine match winner. When he is on, he is going to just rip the game away from the opposition. And that is what you want from your high profile players.

“Yes, consistency is important, but just how many games can you win for me? Go out there and turn this game in our favour and become the match winner for us. And Fakhar has got that capability. So, it is going to be very exciting to see him operate.”

New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson adds firepower to the Vipers bowling attack, most recently taking a hat trick for the Black Caps on their tour to Sri Lanka. And even with the slow pitches expected in the UAE during the DP World ILT20, Tom Moody said he still expected Ferguson would be very effective.

“When you are talking about someone that can get his pace up to, at times, 150 kilometres per hour, that is a different ball game. It does not matter what surface you are playing on; ball speed is your friend if you are a pace bowler. And Lockie has got an abundance of that.“I think that is the real appeal with Lockie is that he has got that genuine pace, but he has also got some great cricketing smarts. To me, he is a pretty switched-on fast bowler. He
knows how to use that pace to his advantage.

“His experience as a successful international bowler and a player that has played in the IPL will also transfer to us as a playing unit.”
Dan Lawrence is a returnee to the Vipers squad, and someone who will offer value both as a top-order batter and an off-spin bowler. His stint last season with the franchise was interrupted with a national call-up for England’s Test tour to India, but the player showed his commitment to the cause by rejoining the Vipers during a break between Tests in that series.

”I think what Dan is going to give us is flexibility,” said Moody. “There are going to be particular times in the game that his style of bowling is going to be perfectly matched up against opposition batters. Where you may have automatically leant to Wanindu Hasaranga, now you have got the luxury of spreading that workload and that exposure to spin and keeping Wanindu for certain situations where you're looking to exploit a particular player in the opposition or a particular phase of the game.

“He (Dan Lawrence) is very different than Hasaranga, he is very different than (leg-spinner) Nathan Sowter. So, there are plenty of pluses when it comes to his bowling.”

Someone Tom Moody said he was expecting a lot from is England seam and swing bowler David Payne, who was part of the Gloucestershire side that won the T20 Blast in the UK last summer, taking an incredible 33 wickets in that tournament.

“David Payne is not a name that might be in every household around the world, but he has got a really decorated career that has flown under the radar of a lot of people,” said Moody.

“(He)Certainly has not flown under our radar because we have monitored and watched exactly what he has done over recent times and admired his consistency.

“He is going to offer us that quality and depth to our bowling squad that we will need in a campaign like this. He is a bowler that can bowl through all the phases of the game. And I think his wicket-taking ability shouts that out because he has been taking them not only in power plays, but also at the end of the innings.

“David is going to be a real plus to us, particularly given, one, the form that he has been in and the upward curve his career has been tracking, band also because of the experience that he has got.”

Tom Moody was all praise for UAE retained players -all-rounder Ali Naseer and
wicketkeeping batter Tanish Suri: “Ali been part of our setup from the get-go and we are wanting to not only help develop his game but also hope that he continues to grow within our team. His responsibilities will again be called upon, probably more so than in the past this season.

“Tanish is just an exciting player. He really had an impact in the group last year, with his professionalism and his enthusiasm to learn and to train and really commit to the Desert Vipers. As a wicketkeeper-batter, he gives us flexibility as a batter that potentially could open the batting if we chose to go down that path.”

The Desert Vipers Director of Cricket added that he believed the rise of the Desert Vipers’ UAE players was an indication of the impact the DP World ILT20 was having on the standard of cricket in the region.

“Once the (UAE) players get the exposure to be in the same dressing room, the same training ground and the same team meetings as a vast variety of international talent, you cannot help but accelerate their development and their knowledge for the game – there is no surprise there.
“I think that is going to continue to accelerate at a rapid rate Now the UAE players have got a purpose and a reason to really show their talents because the carrot is a contract in the ILT20. It is exciting to see where it potentially could go in the next three to five years.”

The DP World ILT20 kicks off on 11 January 2025 in Dubai with defending champions MI Emirates playing the Dubai Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium. The Desert Vipers play their first game the following day at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders.