Send us a text This time we hear from Tom Bruce, the New Zealand-born batter who’s now qualified to play for the country of his father’s birth, Scotland. Like Vriitya Aravind, the subject of our previous show, he’s a Vipers new boy and so, coming up, you’ll get the chance to hear all about a player who is sure to be a terrific addition to the franchise’s roster of top talent. Tom was picked up in the auction by the Vipers as one of the team’s Associate players, alongside the previous...

Send us a text Coming up we hear from one of the Vipers’ new boys, UAE wicketkeeper-batter Vriitya Aravind. Vriitya was the first player to be picked up at the recent auction and we hear all about his reaction to that, plus plenty more. Vriitya is no stranger to the DP World ILT20, having been on the books of two franchises already, spending time at both MI Emirates and the Dubai Capitals. For a 23 year-old, he’s also extremely experienced, having played more than 100 internat...

Send us a text This time it’s a step away from the elite level to something the Vipers are doing at community level. The Vipers have set up their own Talent Pathway Programme for boys and girls aged 13 to 19 within the UAE powered by Balqis Capital, and in this episode we hear from coaches and players at one of the first sessions of the new initiative. It’s all part of the Vipers’ commitment to be a 12-months-a-year team within the UAE and not simply a fly in franchise that pops...

Send us a text It’s another busy episode for you. We hear from Vipers new signing Andries Gous, the USA wicketkeeper-batter who has been drafted in after previously impressing with the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. Andries talks us through his journey to this point in his career, his ambitions for this season’s DP World ILT20, what the future holds for him and USA Cricket – and that, in itself, is exciting - and, most importantly of all, how to pronounce his name correctly! An...

Send us a text This time we’ve got a bumper episode for you. We hear from Tom Moody, the Desert Vipers Director of Cricket, about the franchise’s new players, acquired at the DP World ILT20’s first-ever player auction, which took place in Dubai on Wednesday October the 1st. Tom runs the rule over the 12 players the Vipers picked up at that auction and, as ever with Tom, his opinions are always worth your time. After that, we hear from Shimron Hetmyer, the Guyana and West ...

Send us a text On this episode, we get immediate reaction from Desert Vipers CEO Phil Oliver to the inaugural DP World ILT20 auction, that took place in Dubai on Wednesday 1 October. The auction saw the Vipers complete their roster by signing 12 players, and in our chat with Phil he explains the thinking behind the picks made by the franchise. Phil also discusses what went into a successful auction and chats about the players the Vipers missed out on. As ever, it's well worth your time....

Send us a text Coming up in this episode is part two of our chat with Head Coach James Foster, and this time around we get James’s take on the personnel already retained and signed by the franchise for season four that gets underway at the start of December, as well as his perspective on the upcoming auction, the first in the history of the DP World ILT20. That auction is set to take place on October the 1st and it’s all part of progress the Vipers, and all other franchises, are making...

Send us a text In this episode, we have the first of a two-part chat with Vipers head coach James Foster. In part two we get James’s take on the personnel already retained and signed by the franchise for season four, that gets underway at the start of December, as well as his perspective on the upcoming auction, the first in the history of the DP World ILT20. But this time we find out what James has been up to since season three ended in early February, hear about his perspectiv...

Send us a text This time we wrap up the ILT20 Development Tournament in company with Head Coach Jack Luffman after the Desert Vipers Development Team fell to an agonising four-run loss in the final to the Sharjah Warriors at the ICC Academy on Wednesday evening, the 4th of September. The Vipers team had fought its way to the final thanks to a superb come-from-behind five-run win against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders side the previous evening and looked on course to take the title when th...

Send us a text With the ILT20 Development Tournament in full swing, we caught up with fast bowler Khuzaima bin Tanveer and wicketkeeper-batter Tanish Suri (pictured in the thumbnail for this episode), two players who are part of the Desert Vipers squad in that competition. All six DP World ILT20 franchises have teams in the Development Tournament and with three wins in their five matches in the group stage, the Vipers team has given a very good account of itself. As we recorded ...

Send us a text Coming up we hear from wicketkeeper-batter Tanish Suri, all-rounder Ali Naseer and left-arm spinner Nilansh Keswani, with the trio set to feature for the Vipers’ Development team at the ICC Academy. All six DP World ILT20 franchises have teams in the Development Tournament that is taking place in the last week of August and the first week of September and for all the players involved it’s a chance to showcase their talent with a view to being picked up in the main tourna...

Send us a text As the summer heat starts to fade in the UAE, it’s time to focus on on-field action again and specifically the ILT20 Development Tournament. It’s a tournament for UAE players to put themselves in the shop window for the DP World ILT20’s first-ever auction, which is scheduled to take place in late September, and so there is a lot riding on events at the ICC Academy during the last week of August and the first week of September. To talk to us about the Vipers’ squad...

Send us a text We’re back ahead of season four, which gets underway on December the 2nd 2025, an earlier start than the three previous editions, which all took place in January and February. And in this episode that marks the start of the build-up to the new season, we speak with Vipers Director of Cricket Tom Moody, a regular on the podcast. Tom spoke after confirmation that the Vipers have retained seven players from the season three squad as the core to do battle for season f...

Send us a text This is the final episode for season three and in it we speak with Vipers Director of Cricket Tom Moody as part of our wrap-up of the campaign. It’s part two of that wrap, following on from our chat with Chief Executive Officer Phil Oliver. Just like our conversation with Phil, there was a lot to unpack with Tom and we covered a significant range of topics on the playing side. Among those topics was the approach to recruitment for the season with the emphasis on b...

Send us a text This episode is part one of a two-part wrap-up of the season. In part two we’ll chat with Director of Cricket Tom Moody, but this time we catch up with Vipers CEO Phil Oliver to paint the big picture for us on where the franchise is at after both an agonising loss in the 2025 final to the Dubai Capitals and also after three seasons of existence. Topics Phil spoke about included the possibility of moving to three UAE players in any starting eleven for season four as oppos...

Send us a text In this episode we reflect on heartbreak for the Vipers as the side has lost the final of the DP World ILT20 to the Dubai Capitals. In a thrilling match, the Vipers posted 189 for five after being put into bat and then reduced the Capitals to 31 for three in reply. But then Rovman Powell with 63, Shai Hope with 43 wrested back control before dasun Shanaka, who made 21 from 10 balls and Sikandar Raza, with an unbeaten 34 from 12 deliveries applied the coup de gras,...

Send us a text In this episode we preview the final of the tournament in the company of captain Lockie Ferguson with the Vipers preparing to face the Dubai Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday night, the 9th of February. Sadly, the hamstring injury Lockie picked up in Qualifier 1 on March the 5th means he won’t be able to play in the big game but he took time to chat with us en route to the team’s pre-final media commitments and offered us his thoughts on the Vipers pr...

Send us a text In this episode we can reflect upon a fantastic win for the team – a seven-wicket success against the Sharjah Warriorz in Qualifier 2 that means the Vipers have booked a place in the final of the tournament, against the Dubai Capitals. Coming up we hear from Mohammad Amir, one of the stars with the ball against the Warriorz, and also Max Holden, who again produced an excellent innings under pressure. There’s also the views of Alex Hales, who was named player of the match...

Send us a text This is an episode with a difference. The day after the team’s last-ball defeat to the Dubai Capitals in the Qualifier, two of the coaches, bowling coach Carl Crowe and fielding coach Simon Helmot, meet up with eight players involved with the UAE women’s team for a session at the JA Resort’s dedicated cricket facility in Jebel Ali. The idea behind the session was three-fold: following on from the work the Vipers are doing in schools across Dubai, this was another opportu...

Send us a text This episode comes off the back of a heartbreaking loss to the Dubai Capitals in the Qualifier with the Capitals winning by five wickets off the very last ball to secure a spot in Sunday’s final. For the Vipers it means that in order to join them they have to do it the hard way, playing against the winners of the eliminator between MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriorz that takes place in Abu Dhabi on Thursday night. That next game for the Vipers comes up quickly, on F...