Netherlands Ryan Cook on their disappointing defeat to Afghanistan at ICC Cricket World Cup

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00:00 Ryan, the Netherlands they pride themselves on their running between the wickets and as

00:05 you said earlier in our chats, the doubles, the 20 doubles or more than that in a single

00:10 game but also there is this fact that they have been run out 9 times in this tournament

00:15 itself and 4 of those have come in this game.

00:18 So what are your thoughts on that?

00:20 We do pride ourselves on the wicket, running between the wickets and it's something that

00:25 we actually practice, probably not much like other teams but we do put a lot of time and

00:28 effort into it and obviously our turning technique and our running between the wickets in terms

00:34 of the speed and stuff, we do a lot of training on that so that's something that our game

00:37 is built on and we do pride ourselves on that.

00:40 Obviously today as you can see 4 run outs and not just any run outs, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in

00:46 your batting order getting run out, not ideal and probably some decision making inside of

00:50 that as well.

00:51 So we'll have to go back and have a look at that but it won't stop us, it's part of our

00:55 DNA of our team and we'll keep trying to run between the wickets and value every run like

00:59 we do.

01:00 To add to that, of course the dimensions here at the Ekana Stadium aren't, I mean compared

01:08 to the other stadiums in India, these are certainly bigger dimensions but the numbers

01:14 today say Netherlands had 7 doubles and Afghanistan actually managed 8.

01:21 Well I think in a situation like that it's probably the mentality of the batsmen as well,

01:25 they're not looking to try and hit the balls in the gap, they're just looking to get better

01:28 on ball and take the innings a little bit deeper.

01:31 There's only 2 games to go against Sri Lanka on this very venue where we got 27 twos so

01:36 it is something that we're going to continue to do and it's the reason why we've been successful

01:40 to this point.

01:42 Obviously we don't like to be outrun by any team and they certainly did make a conscious

01:46 effort to try to shut down the twos by standing well off the boundaries which obviously we

01:51 try to do as well in the field.

01:53 So credit to them for the fielding as well, there were some really good pieces of fielding

01:57 throughout the day.

01:58 Hi, so what were your targets for Netherlands in this World Cup and do you think that you

02:05 have picked most of them and what are you looking for in the remaining matches?

02:11 I think it's been pretty blatant, we've come out and said we wanted to make the semi-finals,

02:16 I think all the teams would have wanted to do that at the start of the tournament and

02:19 I certainly would want to play for a coach and a captain that wants that from the team

02:22 and believes in the team that they can achieve that.

02:25 We've still got 2 games to go and we can get ourselves up to 4 wins and that's what we'll

02:30 be talking about in the change room from now on.

02:33 Semi-finals obviously look very distant from here but I think at the end of the day we

02:36 keep striving to be a better team day by day and we'll obviously be putting in big performances

02:42 in the next couple of days.

02:44 Just another question, your top order failures, you must have been asked a lot about that.

02:51 Even today you made a change but that didn't work out, so where does the team go from here?

02:57 As you say, the top order has struggled and we needed to address that problem.

03:02 We did so with a change in the top order and we were going along really nasty there actually

03:06 at 73-1 at one stage so really happy with how the power play went but this game needs

03:12 a lot more than just a good power play in order to win it and they fought their way

03:15 back into the game and we gave away a couple of run outs and we do pride ourselves on being

03:20 a team that's tough to beat but we beat ourselves a little bit with the running between the

03:24 wickets today and put ourselves a bit behind the game and struggled to catch up after that

03:29 in the middle overs.

03:31 We'll look again at the top order and see what's best in that space and we'll be looking

03:37 at the combinations for next game.

03:39 On the bowling front, where do you think Afghanistan ran away with the game?

03:45 They finished it pretty early, so where do you think the game, the chase, you guys had

03:49 them at 55-2 but then it went away very quickly.

03:54 I think like you're seeing in the tournament throughout, if you don't get a good enough

03:57 score there's not enough scoreboard pressure to hold the game for long enough and batsmen

04:01 can afford to get themselves in, extend the partnership and with that it makes it more

04:05 difficult to get them out.

04:06 So the guys fought hard there, like you said knocking over two wickets early on but then

04:12 extending a partnership and credit to the way that they played, extremely low risk,

04:17 hit the balls into gaps and spaces and ran really well between the wickets.

04:20 So that was a fantastic piece of batting from them to be able to drag that game into that

04:24 position.

04:25 I think Scott Edwards did try as much as he could to try and keep attacking and try and

04:30 win the game which I think played into the hands of the scoreboard ticking along as well.

04:36 But yeah, the batters batted well and put a good partnership together there to see them

04:39 to the end.

04:40 Q. Since now two matches have left, now you guys are champions trophy spot or not?

05:01 We obviously found out about the champions trophy qualifications just the other day.

05:06 We were aiming for, obviously in this tournament we weren't playing for what was going to go

05:10 further.

05:11 We'll obviously have to look at how that looks now going into the game against England and

05:15 India and that will be certainly something on the guys' minds in terms of something to

05:18 play for.

05:19 But the guys are a very proud team, we're all proud of what we've done here and we'll

05:23 obviously keep pushing for wins and we owe it to the tournament to continue to do so.

05:27 So we'll keep pushing on in the next two games.

05:30 Q. Do you think that the four win target was unreal now?

05:35 Like when you guys have started that, a minimum four win in the tournament, you guys were?

05:43 No I don't think so.

05:44 We were ambitious in that space to be able to try and win four games and I think if you

05:49 have a look at it we put ourselves in positions to be able to win at least three games so

05:53 far and who knows what happens in the next two.

05:55 So it was an ambitious target to be able to go for and we'll obviously keep striving towards

06:02 trying to get those four wins.

06:04 That's not over and done by any stretch of the imagination yet.

06:08 Many thanks to everybody in Lucknow for having us twice.

06:11 Congrats again to Afghanistan.

06:13 Thank you very much.

06:14 Good luck for the remainder.

06:15 You can give this guy one.

06:22 Sorry sorry sorry.

06:24 Afghanistan is currently I think fifth in the table.

06:27 They're on the verge of a semifinal finish.

06:30 So what do you feel personally the impact of such a performance in the larger scheme

06:35 of things?

06:36 The field opening up, new teams going into the final stages of big competitions.

06:40 What do you feel about this?

06:43 I think it's fantastic.

06:44 It's going to make for some good viewing now coming down the lane and if you look at Afghanistan's

06:49 record in the Super League, 14 wins and only three losses, that's probably the highest

06:53 win percentage of all teams.

06:54 So I would have had them to be in the top five teams in this tournament anyway.

06:58 I don't see why that has been a surprise to anybody.

07:00 They're a quality team.

07:01 They're sort of coming together well.

07:03 They've got good batters, good bowlers with both seam and spin.

07:05 So they'll be pushing in the next couple of games I'm sure to try and get up to 10, 12

07:10 points and maybe going for a semifinal spot.

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