ILT20 2024: Coach of strength and conditioning for the Desert Vipers presents the team’s fitness regimen for the next season.

UAE, Dubai (Jan 3, 2024) Now available on all major audio platforms is the Vipers Voices podcast with Desert Vipers Strength and Conditioning Coach Darren “Daz” Veness. The discussion provides some excellent insights into how the strength and conditioning coach of a team might assist players in maintaining their fitness throughout their comparatively brief time together at a franchise competition such as the ILT20.

Sprinting is one of Daz Veness’s main areas of concentration; thus, he asked every member of the Desert Vipers team who was drafted in for season two to concentrate on that component of their training. According to Veness, who spoke with Desert Viper Voices, it’s an essential component needed to maintain the players’ fitness and availability for selection.

He remarked, “There are some things, like finger fractures or stress fractures with the bowlers, that I really can’t do too much about as a strength and conditioning coach.” As a S and C coach, there’s only so much short-term influence you can have.

“However, there is a ton of work that can be done when it comes to soft tissue injuries, and it is unquestionably one of my KPIs (key performance indicators), even though our team is only together for a short while.

Accordingly, if we examine the global injury statistics for cricket, we find that, in terms of hamstring injuries, cricket is very similar to most other sports in that they are extremely common, difficult to recover from, and, problematically, once you have had one, you are more likely to have another.

Thus, whatever opportunity we have to strengthen and adapt the hamstring to a demanding schedule becomes extremely important. Performing abrupt sprints is also one of the major threats to the hamstring. You therefore run a bigger danger if you sprint occasionally without having become accustomed to it. Therefore, if the guys start off slowly sprinting, that’s perfect prep.

We are increasing the chances for these athletes to become more robust and resilient so they can be selected more frequently if we can keep them developing in a way that lessens the severity or frequency of soft tissue injuries.

According to the Desert Vipers, this implies that James Foster, the head coach, and the director of cricket, Tom Moody, can choose the squad they wish to choose.

The advantage of having assembled a squad is that they can select the lineup they desire, as opposed to being forced to select a lineup owing to player absences or injuries.

The Desert Vipers’ opening game of the second ILT20 tournament is scheduled for Sunday, January 21, at Dubai International Stadium, against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. The tournament begins on Friday, January 19.