Sharjah Warriors

"Be around in this period of time, and then we'll guarantee that your players are getting cricket." Which it's actually quite an interesting way of doing things.

But anyway, Desert Vipers, um, put a bid in for good players, and then Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, Sharjah Warriors, Gulf Giants, and MI Emirates all went, "Ah, fine."

Mm.

All good fun.

It probably would be a bit dangerous.

[laughs]Adam, you, like you've, you've obviously played franchise cricket all round the world, and some of the teams go way back to, you know, um, would've been, um, Bangalore, you've had the London Spirit, Rajasthan Royals, Sharjah Warriors, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in South Africa, Texas Super Kings, the-

Ooh

...

I think we often call it the Viper's way and you've obviously been involved from day one yourself and we continue to carry that through.

To what extent do you think fatigue played a part in the final loss, given you were the later game the night before and were off the back of two very testing and exhausting games versus Dubai Capitals and Sharjah Warriors?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think it would be fair to use fatigue as an excuse, but I think it would have certainly played a part.

I know towards the end of the game, I sat next to Clint in the dugout there and we both sort of said, you know, when it kind of looked really far away of us winning, you know, when they needed sort of, 15-20 runs and that partnership had been such a good one you could see our energy levels drop a little bit and they did look tired then but as you say we played the late game on the night before where we probably weren't getting into bed much before 2-3am in the morning and then back straight at it and also the adrenaline the emotion of that game and the and the comeback winner versus DC, and notwithstanding the fact that, as we've spoken about already on this podcast, is that the temperatures and the humidity have just been through the roof, and it's funny, I spoke to my parents this morning over the phone, and my mum said, you know, I was telling your dad, they're absolutely dripping wet, and it was, I mean, a couple of our boys yesterday had to change their shirts even before we started play, that's how heavy and humid it has been, which is obviously the same for for all the teams and I think it's credit to all the players across all six franchise teams how well they deal with it because I think it was you or I Brian we'd certainly be you know, getting the good old British whinge out, that's for sure.

The Vipers were bowled out with one ball unused for 143, but given the situation when Qusaay strode to the crease, they at least had something to bowl at, albeit not an imposing score that they would have wanted at the outset.

The Vipers had battled so hard to reach the final, winning two matches they might ordinarily have expected to lose against Dubai Capitals and Sharjah Warriors, and they carried that never-say-die attitude into the field once more.

Qusaay Mahboob Tanveer struck with the very first ball of the innings, a caught and bowled to dismiss the Giants impact sub, Tanish Suri, and they reduced the Giants to 15 for 3, 48 for 4, 76 for 5 and 89 for 6.

But the Giants always had in the back of their minds the fact that they weren't chasing a massive score, so they had scope to consolidate, and that's exactly what Soheb Khan with an unbeaten 30 and Junaid Shams with 29 not out did.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Vipers Voices, the podcast of the Desert Vipers, the champion team of the DP World ILT20, as we continue our coverage of the ILT20 Development Tournament.

And in this episode, we look back on the Vipers team's semi-final against the Sharjah Warriors at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City on Wednesday evening, the 23rd of September.

And it was another back-from-the-dead victory for Vitya Aravind's side by 25 runs, which means they're in Thursday night's final against the Gulf Giants.

Coming up, we hear from head coach Jack Luffman, who gives us his perspective on another remarkable night of action.

So fingers crossed.

We'll be having a positive chat tomorrow evening, Brian.

Jack Luffman, the Desert Vipers' head coach in this season's ILT20 development tournament, looking forward to the final after his side's 25-run win over Sharjah Warriors.

So, the Vipers' side is now just one match away from winning the title, but to achieve that, they'll have to get past the form side of the tournament, the Gulf Giants, who've lost just once in six matches.

A day after that, and Vitya Aravind's side play their final match of the league stage before, hopefully, the semi-finals on Wednesday 23rd and the final the day after that.

Remember, the Vipers were runners-up 12 months ago, losing out to Sharjah Warriors.

Now then, it's time to look back on the match against Gulf Giants through the eyes of Jack Luffman.

First of all, Jack, what an odd day for the tournament.