00:00Hi Joss, obviously you're missing Brydon, but is it comforting and a bit reassuring
00:05that you have someone in Jamie Overton who's close to, you know, pretty much a
00:09like-for-like replacement? Yeah, obviously really disappointed for Brydon to be
00:13ruled out of the tournament, but yeah, it gives opportunity to Jamie Overton who's
00:18been performing really well. Like you say, similar style of cricketer, so excited
00:23for him to get his chance. Australia, South Africa we've just seen has been
00:27rained off, obviously puts faith back in your hands rather than potentially
00:31having to worry about net run rate. Is that a bit of a boost for your team?
00:34Yeah, I think the equation would be the same no matter what, that we need to win
00:38two games of cricket. So yeah, first of all we focus fully on tomorrow. It's going to be a
00:44tough test against Afghanistan, but we're really excited for that challenge.
00:48Everyone's very much looking forward to the game, try and build on the positives
00:52of the last performance and try and take home the victory. Obviously the last time
00:56you guys met was the 2023 World Cup. What did you learn from that picture?
01:02Yeah, obviously a really competitive side that have been performing really
01:07well, getting better and better over the years and give them lots of respect.
01:12We know they play a unique style in some senses, with some great spin options
01:18in Rashid and Noor, obviously two standout guys that we need to prepare
01:23really well for. But as much as we look at the opposition, it's focusing on
01:27ourselves, bringing the best version of our cricket and being confident that
01:32that will be enough to win the game.
01:34Obviously the backdrop to this fixture has been dominated by a bit of political discourse in the background.
01:39I just wonder what the deciding factor was for you to say,
01:43I'm comfortable for this to go ahead. I know you said you've chatted with Mohamed Naby
01:47and what was discussed there with you two?
01:51Yeah, I think I've taken a lot of advice from lots of experts. I think credit to Rob Key and the ECB
01:58have been very good at supporting me and all the players and giving us
02:03information and education around this and making it an ECB decision.
02:08I think we're very saddened by the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan at the
02:15moment and the struggles that they're facing. But we hope that the game
02:19tomorrow can be a source of hope and enjoyment in what's obviously a
02:24tough time at the moment. So I think we're really excited
02:29about the match. Sport has a great power to unite people and give hope and
02:35that's what we hope this game will do.
02:40Hi Joss, there's been some talk with India knowing where all their games will be in Dubai.
02:48That gives them a big advantage. Is that something you've got a view on?
02:52Not really. I think it's a unique tournament already, isn't it, with being
02:58hosted here with one team playing in a different place. But that's not
03:02something I'm sort of worried too much about at the moment. I've got all my
03:06focus on preparing well tonight and our game tomorrow.
03:10In terms of the balance of your squad, does that make it harder knowing you might have to play in two
03:15different countries compared to only one?
03:17No, not necessarily. I don't think conditions are going to be too
03:21outrageously different, to be honest. So look, as I said, we've really focused
03:26one game at a time. We focused hard on the Australia game. We didn't get
03:30the result that we wanted. So we dust ourselves down and prepare really
03:35well for tomorrow and get the level of performance that will give us a positive result.
03:46Just after getting Rihann, now three spinners in the English side and on the
03:53other side of one, I have also three quality spinners. So how do you compare
03:57these spin attacks? And secondly, if this spin attack would be bowling, what
04:02would be the ideal total for the team batting first?
04:06I think there's about every game of cricket is turning up and assessing the
04:12conditions and playing accordingly. So sitting here tonight and giving you a
04:16guess at a total is quite hard. But we know that Afghanistan possesses some
04:22fantastic spinners and they're the cornerstone of their side. For us, we've
04:27got a nice mix of spin and obviously some fantastic pace bowling options as
04:31well. So we're very comfortable with the balance of our team.
04:36Harry Brooke is a great performer but he's not been doing well recently. Are
04:40you concerned about his form and what do you expect from him in the next match?
04:44No, I don't have any concerns for Harry. Harry is one of the biggest and
04:50brightest young players in the world game. So obviously he has high
04:54expectations for himself and wants to perform well and be a match winner
04:59for the side. And generally speaking, the player of that quality, the longer
05:04they don't do that, the closer they are always to coming back and performing
05:07really well. So we know he's an important member of the team. He's, as I said, one
05:11of the best young players in the world. So we've got full trust and
05:15confidence in him.
05:23Hi Joss. The Afghan captain Hashimoto Lashahidi was here and one of the
05:27things he said was it suits Afghanistan slightly better generally when they're
05:31bat first. And I just wondered if you have a view on whether you'd like to
05:35bat or chase, given that you seem to be a bit of a factor against Australia?
05:38Yeah, I think obviously in the Australia game the Jew did come in and second
05:43innings probably skidded on a bit better. But no, we'll sort of, as I said, each
05:48game is individual. You've got to play well. You know, the toss doesn't guarantee a
05:52result either. So whatever happens at the toss, we know we need to put in a level
05:57of performance to win the game.
06:00This side of the back please.
06:02Hi Joe. You know the last match was totally a batting wicket. What do you expect from
06:06the tomorrow pitch? Especially it will be a batting or useful for the spin.
06:12And what do you think, what about your pace attack? Especially the way they
06:17bowled against Australia. It wasn't up to the mark.
06:20Sorry, can you repeat your question?
06:23Yeah, are you going to change some of your fast bowlers? Because in the previous match
06:28they were not up to the mark. Australia chased 351. That was a huge target.
06:33But despite a heavy target, they chased it out. And what about your group position?
06:38Because today's match was abandoned and now every match is doing the situation for every team.
06:43Yeah, I think pretty much from the start of the tournament, every game is a must win.
06:48So, you know, we've got two games left and to progress further, we know we have to win
06:53those games. So that's a very clear situation for us to be in.
06:57And I think the other question about the seam bowlers, we got great confidence in those guys.
07:04Level of performance was good. And as always, there's little areas we want to improve
07:09and chase that perfect game.
07:11Go ahead, finish with Ali.
07:13I got it.
07:14Okay, no worries. Ali, just pass the mic down to Matt please.
07:19Thank you. See you later.
07:22Josh, you said after the T20 World Cup last year, you were sort of slightly concerned about your own job.
07:26You got renewed by Rob Key to carry on in the role.
07:30Do you feel like the stakes are quite personally high on this match?
07:33Like it's, you know, obviously, the team's right on the precipice here.
07:38Yeah, absolutely. I think any time as an England captain, you know, you want to perform
07:45and you want to perform well and you want to lead your team to winning games of cricket.
07:49So we haven't been doing that enough in the recent past.
07:52But, you know, very soon as you sort of catch yourself thinking about any negative things
07:57or those kind of things, try and completely flip that and focus on all the positive things
08:01that could go right and where you can take the team.
08:04So, yeah, very much focused on that.
08:06Just to follow up on that question earlier about the quicks and kind of what you're expecting from them this game,
08:11given the Australia game, how was the kind of debrief with the bowlers?
08:14And what are you kind of expecting from them looking ahead to this match?
08:18Yeah, the debrief was pretty easy, to be honest.
08:21I thought as we all felt that we did good things in phases
08:25and probably just weren't quite consistent enough in a couple of areas.
08:30And also sometimes you've got to give credit to someone who plays in outstanding innings.
08:34So, yeah, we've sort of parked that now.
08:37We look forward to the game tomorrow.
08:39The guys have all prepared really well.
08:41We turn up with a lot of positivity and trying to impart our style of play on the game tomorrow.
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