00:00 Yeah, I've answered quite a few questions about it and I think the best way to describe
00:10 it is I was in the wrong position to start with.
00:14 So yeah, pretty regulation catch turned into, yeah, it was a great feeling to be a part
00:20 of it in front of the crowd but if I was in the right position I probably wouldn't have
00:23 to do that.
00:24 You feel tough and always called it the catch of the century, maybe a bit tongue in cheek
00:27 but would you put it up there with some of the best you've caught and seen as well?
00:32 Yeah, I think it's up there with some of the best ones I've taken.
00:36 Catch of the century though?
00:40 No, I think that's probably a bit too much.
00:44 Yeah, good catch, great feeling at the time to do it in front of that crowd as well.
00:48 It was one of those moments that I just tried to take it.
00:50 I mean the crowd, you could see you kind of soaking it in, you paused there and it was
00:55 a great crowd today and a great victory for England to get this tournament and get the
01:01 show on their own.
01:02 Yeah, the amazing thing about having the World Cup in England this year is that we know we're
01:06 going to have great support wherever we go and the Oval is always a great atmosphere
01:10 when we play series as well.
01:13 So not too dissimilar to what we were expecting to be honest but in terms of the game it's
01:21 great to get that first game out of the way and even better to get a win because there
01:26 was a few nerves kicking around this morning.
01:30 To play on such a big stage it was pretty obvious that there was going to be a few different
01:33 feelings in the changing rooms but to walk away with the way that we played today, it
01:36 was a complete team performance.
01:37 I was going to say, with the early loss of Johnny there, it looked like there could be
01:42 some early nerves, so much pressure on starting the tournament well and what this tournament
01:48 means to English cricket.
01:49 So to get convincing win like that, over the line so comfortably in the end, must be really
01:54 gratifying.
01:55 Yeah, it is.
01:58 The wicket didn't play like it normally does here.
02:00 It's normally a really, really good batting wicket.
02:02 It was quite a tough going.
02:03 I thought South Africa bowled really well towards the end.
02:07 We weren't quite sure where we were going to get our boundaries from.
02:09 They took all the pace off the ball and tried to make us force the issue.
02:14 I think it just shows where we came as a batting unit that we can adapt to different situations
02:18 now.
02:19 Two, three years ago we might have only got 270, 218 and it would have been a lot easier.
02:24 If you get over that 300 mark, there is a slight psychological advantage to having to
02:29 chase over 300.
02:30 I suppose it's a mark of how far this England team have come.
02:33 Some people looked at that score at lunch and thought it's actually below par for England.
02:38 We talk about trying to hit a 500 and an ODI.
02:43 It's not going to be as simple as that in a tournament like this, is it?
02:46 No, definitely not.
02:47 It's probably not as easy to see watching the conditions that you are faced with as
02:52 a batsman out there.
02:53 It was a bit of a tennis ball bounce.
02:56 When they took all the pace off the ball, it was really hard to get boundaries away.
03:02 We were happy at halfway getting 310.
03:06 We were able to see how they bowled and used their conditions to their advantage.
03:10 We knew what we had to try and do.
03:11 Finally, for me, for yourself, it's going to be hard to top today, isn't it?
03:15 Personally, you're top scored.
03:18 That catch was amazing.
03:19 That little scoop shot as well.
03:20 You're obviously going to hope that you're going to have better days in this tournament,
03:25 but to get off to a flyer like that must be so pleasing.
03:29 It's always good getting into the tournament and starting off pretty well, but that all
03:33 counts for nothing when you come to your next game.
03:36 It's all about starting and rebuilding as a team and seeing what conditions we've got
03:42 in front of us.
03:43 That's going to be the hard thing for us this World Cup, facing what's in front of
03:48 us at the time.
03:49 A lot has been said about the batting unit.
03:50 What would you say about the bowling unit and what Dr Archer brings to the inside?
03:58 I think our bowling unit has been very, very solid over the last couple of years, as well
04:02 as our batting.
04:03 There's obviously a lot that gets said about how destructive our batting line-up is.
04:09 Sometimes it can go under the radar and not get the points that they deserve.
04:13 You look at someone like Chris Wokes, who's just been a consistent performer for us, and
04:18 having someone like Joffre come into the team now with his pace and his skill level, everyone
04:23 talks about the X-factor and he's definitely got it.
04:27 The future is bright for him as a player and I hope it's in England.
04:31 What would you say about the journey over the last two to three years?
04:34 What do you tribute the success and the ongoing success of the team?
04:39 A lot of credit has to go to Trevor Bayliss and Owen Morgan in terms of the way that he's
04:44 wanted our side to go forward.
04:47 Go out there, express yourself as individuals and always take the positive option.
04:52 We've learnt along the way, we've had some hiccups in terms of not some great team performances,
04:58 but we've learnt from them and become a much better team.
05:01 Adapting to tricky conditions and different surfaces has definitely been one of them,
05:04 which is going to be massive in this World Cup with all the different venues and different
05:10 grounds we're going to be playing at.
05:12 Just one more, have England laid down a marker today?
05:15 Favourites going into the tournament, but you've backed it up already, do you think?
05:20 I think we've shown what we can do, not just with the bat and ball but also in the field
05:25 as well.
05:26 I think that's probably the best fielding performance we've put in as a team in probably
05:29 about three or four years to be honest.
05:31 Jason Roy led that at Backwood Point, he did some amazing stops.
05:36 When you can save 20 or 30 runs in a game in the field, that's massive.
05:41 So hopefully we've set the marker there for us going forward, but there's a long way left
05:46 and this is just a building platform for us.
05:48 Thanks guys, cheers.
05:49 Sweet.
05:50 Bye.
05:51 Bye, cheers.
05:52 Just wait.
05:52 Cheers.
05:53 Cheers.
05:53 Cheers.
05:54 Cheers.
05:55 Cheers.
05:55 (upbeat music)
05:58 (upbeat music)
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