Vipers Voices

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with the Vipers recruits Phil Salt and Sam Curran, the England internationals who have flown in from the SA20 in South Africa to bolster the side’s roster in the run-in to the end of the regular season of the DP World ILT20.   Wicketkeeper-batter Phil has arrived from Pretoria Capitals and all-rounder Sam, has joined from MI Cape Town and both of them are...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we look back at the Vipers’ Sustainability Match, against the Gulf Giants at the Dubai International Stadium last Saturday, in the company of the Desert Vipers CEO Phil Oliver and Sustainability Manager Ben Hardy-Jones.   The Vipers have nailed their colours to the mast by putting Sustainability and the climate crisis front and centre of their agenda and the match...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we reflect on a 30-run loss at the hands of MI Emirates in Abu Dhabi on Sunday February the 4th, the Vipers’ eighth game of this campaign.   We have reaction from debutant leg-spinner Nathan Sowter, who performed admirably in taking one for 27 and there’s also the views of Ali Naseer, the UAE all-rounder who had his maiden DP World ILT20 half-century, weighing in w...

Send us Fan Mail This time we look back on an emphatic win for Colin Munro’s side against the Gulf Giants – a six-wicket success with more than three overs in hand.   Coming up we have reaction from opening batter Alex Hales, wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan, who scored the fastest fifty in the history of the tournament, and also head coach James Foster, with the result seeing the side surge up the t...

Send us Fan Mail This is a very special episode of Vipers Voices. It's special because It was recorded on the day the Desert Vipers joined forces with the Dubai Sports Council.   Dubai Sports Council is the official body responsible for the development of the sports sector in the Emirate.   And in a ground-breaking partnership, Dubai Sports Council has become the Lead Partner in the Desert Vi...

Send us Fan Mail This time we reflect upon the side’s sixth match of the second edition of the tournament and it’s a match that ended in defeat for the Vipers – a four-wicket loss at the hands of David Warner’s Dubai Capitals, off the final ball of the match.   Coming up we hear from Director of Cricket Tom Moody, who offers us his perspective on the narrow reverse and we also get the thoughts of...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we look back at the dramatic victory over MI Emirates, forward to the next match, against the Dubai Capitals, and also assess how the team is doing at the halfway point of the group stage, all in the company of captain Colin Munro.   Colin offers his usual fair and honest appraisal of his own and his side’s performances in the tournament so far and, as ever, it’s a...

Send us Fan Mail It’s a happy podcast this time as we have reaction after the Vipers' second win of this season's DP World ILT20, one secured by the narrowest of margins - by two wickets off the final ball in an absolute thriller against MI Emirates at the Dubai International Stadium.   We hear from head coach James Foster and also UAE all-rounder Ali Naseer, who took a game-changing cat...

Send us Fan Mail It’s time to hear from the Desert Vipers CEO Phil Oliver as we build up to the franchise’s Sustainability Match, against the Gulf Giants at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday February the 3rd.   The match is a first for the Vipers and for the DP World ILT20 as it’s been put in place to highlight all that the Vipers are doing to raise awareness of the issues of sustainabil...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we reflect upon the match against the Sharjah Warriors at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, a game that saw the Vipers slip to a third defeat in four this season, going down narrowly by seven runs.   We hear from Luke Wood, who picked up three wickets in his first outing of the campaign and there’s also reaction from top-scorer Alex Hales, who’s 61 from 40 balls wasn’t quit...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we look back on the side’s third match of the tournament, against the Abu Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi.   The Knight Riders repeated the result of the previous meeting between the two sides six days earlier by winning by six wickets, this time with 14 balls to spare.   We hear from Vipers batter Sherfane Rutherford, who made 28 from 21 balls, and also fast bowling c...

Send us Fan Mail It’s time to look forward to the next match on the Vipers’ schedule, the match against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday afternoon.   And to that, we are in the company of head coach James Foster.   We chatted with James on Thursday and in a wide-ranging conversation he not only looked ahead to that match against the Knight Riders, a...

Send us Fan Mail This time we catch up with Tymal Mills, the left-arm fast bowler who’s already made a significant impact for the Vipers in this edition of the tournament.   Tymal talks to us about a range of subjects, looking back on the victory of the Gulf Giants in the side’s second match of the tournament, forward to match three against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, and plenty more besides.   W...

Send us Fan Mail We’re reacting to positive news as the Vipers are off the mark for the season with a six-wicket win with eight balls to spare against the Gulf Giants, the side that beat the Vipers in last year’s final.   It was a match that saw Pakistan trio Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Azam Khan all debut for the franchise and all played roles in the victory, while Wanindu Hasaranga prod...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is what you might call a Pakistan special as we chat to Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan, part of the four-man contingent from that country who are bolstering the Vipers ranks for this second edition of the DP World ILT20.   Amir played in the first match of the season against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and now Shadab is in Dubai as well, along with Shaheen Shah Afridi...

Send us Fan Mail This really is an episode with a difference as we begin the countdown to a first for the Vipers and a first for the DP World ILT20 – a game on February the 3rd against defending champions the Gulf Giants that’s being christened the Sustainability Match, aimed at highlighting all the things the Vipers are doing to raise the issues of climate change and recycling.   And to let us kn...

Send us Fan Mail We reflect on the Desert Vipers’ first match of season two of the DP World ILT20.   The Vipers were defeated by the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders by six wickets with 14 balls to spare at the Dubai International Stadium and to talk us through what went wrong we have an interview with Director of Cricket Tom Moody.   We’ll also hear from Adam Hose, who top-scored for the Vipers with 45 fr...

Send us Fan Mail It’s also here! The first match of the Desert Vipers 2024 DP World ILT20 campaign is almost upon us. At the time of recording this episode all the preparations are finished and now it’s just a case of one more sleep until the players head out to face the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the Dubai International Stadium.   So, with that first match so close, who better to speak with than...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, after a training session two days out from the opening encounter of the tournament, against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the Dubai International Stadium on January the 21st,  we speak with Vipers Head Coach James Foster.   We caught up with James after a session at the ICC Academy and we touched on a whole range of subjects, from the comings and goings of player...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features an interview with Adam Hose after the batter top-scored with 39 from 21 balls in the Vipers’ warm-up match against the Dubai Capitals at the ICC Academy on Thursday evening.   The match was 14-a-side and both teams had players who batted more than once as they sought middle practice. The Capitals won by 37 runs as their batters went exceptionally hard on a su...

Send us Fan Mail This time we hear from Toby Gregory, the founder of The Plastic Pledge, which has joined forces with the Desert Vipers as a Sustainability Impact Partner for the next two years.   The agreement will see the Vipers sign up to the pledge as part of its drive to eradicate single-use plastic in its team environment, inviting its fans to do likewise.   The Desert Vipers and The Plastic...

Send us Fan Mail As the players continue to arrive and preparations both on and off the field hit a high gear, who better than to give us the lie of the land than Director of Cricket Tom Moody.   We caught up with Tom during a squad training session at the ICC Academy and we talked around a whole range of topics, from Colin Munro’s retention as captain for this season, the inclusion of a Pakistan...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode it’s all starting to get real again as we catch up with Colin Munro, who has been confirmed as captain for season two.   We spoke with Colin at the team’s jersey launch at Soul Beach at the JA Resort in Jebel Ali, just six days before the Vipers’ first match of this campaign, against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday January t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with new signing Dan Lawrence, the English batting powerhouse who is set to arrive in Dubai off the back of time alongside 50-over Cricket World Cup winners Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis at the Melbourne Stars in Australia’s Big Bash League.   Dan, who has switched county sides during the winter, from Essex to Surrey, already has experience of the DP Wo...

Send us Fan Mail The episodes are coming thick and fast as season two approaches, and so is the news, and this time we talk about an exciting new partnership with Bat For A Chance, a UK-based initiative that aims to recycle used cricket clothing and equipment to ensure as many people as possible around the world get the opportunity to play the sport.   We hear from the founder of Bat For A Chance,...