ILT20 2024: 'Racing snake' Nathan Sowter finds his home at the Desert Vipers

Dubai, UAE (Jan 9, 2024) – Nathan Sowter, the leg-spinner who Tom Moody christened ‘Racing Snake’ for his ability to slither around the outfield at high speed, is all set to link up with the Desert Vipers for season two of the ILT20.

Nathan will join forces with the Vipers’ Director of Cricket after playing under him for The Oval Invincibles in last year’s Hundred in the UK, ending up with a winner’s medal following the final at Lord’s. And given the player’s numbers in shortform cricket in 2023 it looks like a shrewd signing.

Nathan took 11 wickets in that successful Hundred campaign, the joint-most by any spinner in the competition alongside England international Adil Rashid. And that followed on from 24 wickets in the T20 Blast for Durham, which made him comfortably the county’s leading wicket-taker, bagging those scalps at an impressive economy rate of just 6.73.

Now Nathan is all set for a stint with the Vipers and he cannot wait to link up again with Tom who, he said, helped turn his career around when he feared it was all set to hit the buffers.

“Tom (Moody) has had a positive impact on me, and he has backed me in the last three seasons at the Oval (Invincibles),” Nathan told the Vipers Voices podcast.

“The first couple of seasons I did not do much, I was a bit of a water boy, but I did my job and was biding my time until last season when we had a fantastic year, lifting the trophy in August. Tom backed me and had a lot of belief in me and what I can do. I am so glad to join another team he is involved in.”

It is an incredible turnaround for a player who feared his professional cricket career was over when he was released by Middlesex at the end of the 2022 season.

“I went into the 2022 edition of The Hundred with not much game time behind me and I played the last three games and did quite well,” he said. “It gave me a shopwindow for people to take a look at me and see ‘he’s not bad.’

“I moved to Durham and they have given me a lot of freedom with my training as I have not been based in the North-East (of England) as I am supporting my fiancé with her job in London.

“I do all my training down (in the) South (of England) then I pop up to do my bits and pieces for Durham. They have been really great and let me off the leash a bit and you will hopefully see the best of that when I come over to Dubai.

“The past year has been just me being free and allowed to play my own game and just be happy, if that makes sense.” 

And Nathan said the secret to his success in shortform cricket in 2023 was to make his mindset as uncomplicated as possible.

“It is pretty simple, T20 cricket,” he said. “They (batters) try to whack you over cow- corner or straight 95 per cent of the time, so I just try and keep it simple for myself, my plans are pretty simple. I just try to hit the stumps (when I’m bowling) and keep the ball away from the left- handers as much as possible and then go from there. It is also going to be good to work with people (like spin bowling coach Carl Crowe) who might have different ideas, but for me I just have to keep things simple and that is how I get my best results.”

And what about that nickname given to him by Tom Moody? “Tom (Moody) calls me the racing snake because I slither around the outfield quite quickly and try to get myself involved,” he said.

“I love fielding and it is something I work quite hard on. I think I learnt the enjoyment (of fielding) as a kid, and I still walk around the house and throw a tennis ball against the wall and practise catching balls. I am not sure my fiancé is very happy with the noise at times. But it is little things like that, that keep me sharp, just catching one-handers off the wall. That helps me to take spectacular catches.”

A check of online videos shows plenty of examples of Nathan’s abilities in the field. Now, he will be hoping to produce another highlights reel during the ILT20.