ILT20: No Replacement For Injured Andries Gous, Says Tom Moody

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."

As 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."

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."

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