00:00How much discussion went into the decision to leave Mitchell out of the team?
00:19Always a tough decision to leave Mitch Stark out of a team. As you saw from the way the
00:24game unfolded, I think Ashton was suited to these conditions and we needed to make room.
00:29We knew we were going to need more than eight overs to spin on that surface and it's probably
00:33something we've been planning and preparing for once we knew we were at this venue and
00:36we look at our squad of 15 and set it before the tournament. We're going to need options
00:41and flexibility but it's always a difficult decision. You never know whether it's going
00:46to be right or wrong but I thought Ashton bowled incredibly well today, used his skill,
00:52some good arm balls, found some purchase early and he made it tricky to navigate through
00:56those first few overs. We got two out of the power play which then set up clearly the
01:00bowling from that end with him and Zamps operating. Unfortunately we weren't able to take those
01:05early wickets, had a couple of opportunities and no doubt we'll speak about the fielding.
01:11On the fielding, the team usually sets very high standards. How disappointed were you
01:16with that? Is that probably the worst fielding effort you've seen while you've been coach?
01:24We've had some bad fielding days. We're not immune from that as a team and tonight we
01:28weren't at our best. I don't really want to talk too much around that because you've got
01:33to pay credit also to your opponent in these situations. I thought the platform that the
01:38openers laid to give them an opportunity to get above that 130-140 score which we knew
01:44was considering that around par. Then we fought back well through the middle and the back
01:49end. I thought we were excellent at the back end. We're disappointed with the standards
01:55in the field. Is this group capable of more than that? 100 per cent no and we've seen
02:00that. We've got a short turnaround now. We've got to really shift our focus into that recovery
02:05mode. We've got a travel day tomorrow and then get ourselves sharp for India. It's going
02:10to be a huge game and we've been in this situation before. All too familiar.
02:15It's been two games where you've had poor games in the field. Thinking back to the Scotland
02:20one as well. Is it an attitude thing or a skill thing? Interested in what your early
02:28diagnosis might be?
02:29I think it's never exact as to what contributes and they're all isolated incidences as well.
02:35So I think people will talk about attitude and the boys are ready to go tonight. We didn't
02:41execute in the field and that can sometimes happen. We didn't quite execute with the bat
02:47as well and there's moments with the ball. So when you string all three phases of the
02:51game, can we find the 20 plus runs to narrow the gap and win the game? 100 per cent we
02:56can. Yes, the fielding was disappointing but there's other areas of the game we need to
03:01tidy up and we weren't at our best. I thought Afghanistan were pretty close to their best.
03:07No doubt Ash was a really good inclusion for this game but would you reframe that thinking
03:12around Stark vs Agar as to actually Stark vs Cummins and Hazelwood in hindsight?
03:19When you're hopping around the islands, the conditions change dramatically and we got
03:23what we expected tonight. So as I said, I was comfortable with that decision and now
03:28we've got to turn our focus to India. A totally different line-up, a totally different surface
03:32and we've got to make good decisions at the selection table. That's part of the art of
03:36navigating through a World Cup is to get those decisions right. As I said, you can't play
03:42the same game twice. You can't put Mitch Stark in there or Nathan Ellis and work out what
03:45the game would have looked like. We went with Ash and we backed him in and we've got full
03:48trust in whoever we call on in that 15 to get a job done. We've got a task at hand.
03:54Just on focusing on the next game, the fact that the turnaround is literally you're playing
04:00the game tomorrow, it's nearly 1am. How do you make that adjustment and it's not here,
04:06you have to get the flight, go there. Does it work to your advantage that it's such a
04:10short turnaround or do you have to work around it?
04:13No, I mean, once the draw comes out, you're well aware of what you need to do in your
04:18planning and preparation and that goes into it months before you get here. We feel like,
04:23as I said, we've made some good decisions in our planning and prep and coming in. We've
04:28got another challenge with a short turnaround. Every team's facing that. It'll be recovery
04:34mode tonight and tomorrow. Give the boys a bit of space and we won't drill into it
04:40too much tonight. As you said, it's pretty early in the morning. Getting that information
04:45in will happen in the morning of the Indian game, so a bit of space. The boys know where
04:49we went wrong. They're an experienced group but there's no doubt when we come back together
04:53the morning of the Indian game, we need to be at our best and to be at our best, we need
04:57recovery and if people don't recover in time, then clearly we'll make decisions based around
05:02that. But so far, so good. Everyone's pulled up well.
05:04You spoke about the format as well. You've had a really good tournament so far and just
05:10the timing of that bad game suddenly puts you in a position where you're in a must-win
05:14scenario. Is that just tournament play? Can you just go from having a great tournament
05:20to suddenly be in that position mentally?
05:23Yeah, and we're well aware that that can happen. You look at the other side of the draw, South
05:29Africa could lose one game and potentially be staring at an exit and it could be the
05:33same for us, it could be the same for Afghanistan, it could be the same for India. So you know
05:38how tight it is when you get to the pointy end. There's no doubt net run rate, there'll
05:42be plenty of discussions around hypothesising around that, around what it looks like and
05:47we played the second last game and Bangladesh play Afghanistan in the last game. Is that
05:51an advantage and things like that. But ultimately, we've got to take care of what's in our control
05:55and that's India, no doubt one of the tournament favourites. We'd like to think we're up there
06:00in the conversation but yeah, we've got to get to work in the next game and yeah, shift
06:05it pretty quickly.
06:07And playing on a wicket that everyone seems to think is maybe the best in the tournament
06:11in St Lucia, obviously out there you guys have to change how you go about things and
06:16not saying you can't do that but is it a bit of an advantage to be playing in territory
06:21that you kind of know a little bit more of?
06:24I'd like to think we can change it pretty quickly. It's the art of international cricket,
06:28different surfaces, different challenges, different opponents in tournament play. But
06:32no doubt we've played one game there, we've had a look at it, we're familiar with it,
06:36we were there not long ago in I think it was a five game series as well. So yeah, I'd like
06:42to think that whatever XI we go with will be best suited to those conditions and against
06:46that opponent and that's the art of selection.
06:50Andrew, I know you sort of knew the schedule a long way out and there's nothing you can
06:54do about it but are you surprised at just how challenging your travel schedule seems
07:01to be compared to other teams? Playing these late games and having to play only one game
07:07in a location and then travel onwards when other teams have certainly had a completely
07:12different schedule?
07:14I haven't looked at what the other teams are doing to be perfectly honest so I'm not aware
07:18of what their tournaments look like. We knew from the start what we're in for, we've planned
07:25and prepared around that and scheduling is always going to be a debate, it's a debate
07:30outside of World Cups. The tournament is definitely sped up, short turnarounds, it becomes a little
07:35bit attritional, there's no doubt about that and we've just got to make good decisions
07:38around how our players pull up and it's no different to any other team. So we'd like
07:43to think that we're planned, prepared, the players are physically prepared for the demands
07:47of it so I think you'll see a 15 player squad all available on the selection table and we're
07:53going to make a good decision today, I was going to say tomorrow, in terms of selection
07:57so we'll hopefully finalise our team before match day.
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