00:00Ash, obviously a great century from Aidan Markram, and I suppose he's had a couple of struggles over the last, you know, however many seasons, and also some amazing moments.
00:10Just what kind of work has he done before this match, and what have you seen in him that maybe suggests he was the guy for a big occasion?
00:17Well, we certainly know that he's someone for the big occasion. Of that, there's no doubt.
00:24He's done a little bit of technical work, not a lot.
00:26But I think in the last little while, he's just had a little tendency of his hands sort of pushing away from his body, cutting across the ball sometimes.
00:38But it wasn't a big fix. As soon as he saw a few videos of himself doing that, it was quite a simple fix.
00:45When I talk about his ability to play big innings, you know, albeit in a losing cause at Newlands on a very, very difficult pitch,
00:57he played in unbelievable innings there where everybody else was really struggling, and he got 100 on that surface.
01:05And so we know what he's capable of.
01:08And can I just ask you, well, what did you say to the batters?
01:11You know, a target like this has only been chased three or four times here at Lourdes before it looked like a lot of runs.
01:17Like, what were your words of advice when they went out there?
01:19I felt that, you know, the message has been the same really throughout.
01:30Make them believe that they can do it.
01:35And then just sort of step out of the way and allow them to go and do it.
01:38I think, you know, with that, there were signs starting yesterday evening.
01:47There are certain signs when you're sitting and watching the game that all those type of things might be positive for us.
01:57Obviously, in terms of trying to wrap up the Australian tale, there's a little bit of frustration with the ball dropping short all the time of the slip cordon.
02:04But if you reverse that, it might happen the same when we bat.
02:08And so Ryan Rickleton goes fairly hard at one early on, and it drops short of the slip cordon.
02:14So, you know, that's a little sign that that might be something in our favor.
02:18We try and, you know, stick to the positives as much as we can.
02:22And then again this morning, when you watch the tail end is sort of sticking,
02:29there are signs there that the stats suggest that day three might be the best for batting.
02:37And they were pretty comfortable, numbers 9, 10, and 11, up against pretty good bowling attack.
02:46And with the sun out, you know, you look for certain positives that the sun's out,
02:52the Knicks aren't carrying to the slip cordon.
02:54So can we feed off those type of things, you know, and then obviously big partnerships are important.
03:01I think, you know, Mulder Shugira mentioned coming in early in a position that he's not really accustomed to,
03:12having lost an early wicket and just sort of settled everything down with Aiden.
03:17I think that partnership was quite crucial.
03:19And then the next partnership that's still ongoing is obviously massive.
03:25Being so close with a night to think on it, do you try to put the end result out of your mind?
03:33Or do you allow that to get into the thought?
03:36No, look, I think, again, to come back to your question, Frido,
03:41one of the things we said before the run chase is the game will finish when it finishes, you know,
03:49and whether that is tomorrow at lunchtime or whatever time,
03:53the end of the match will take care of itself.
03:56For us, the most important thing is to remain in the moment, stay in the moment.
04:02And obviously, from a batting point of view, that means play one ball at a time, stay in the moment.
04:06Whenever the game finishes, that's when it will finish.
04:08How's Tim with Amstrand?
04:14I'm not sure yet.
04:16I'm sure if Seizwe is attending to that at the moment.
04:20Actually, at tea time, we had to make a big call whether he continues to bat
04:27and how it will affect his stroke play, how that might affect Aiden's rhythm.
04:34If twos are being turned into one, that they can't sort of run the twos or the threes.
04:41And the both of them were adamant that Tim was going to continue.
04:45He wanted to continue.
04:46Aiden was adamant that the partnership is the key.
04:52And obviously, had Stubbs gone in, we would have still had Timber's wicket intact.
04:59But you start in a new partnership.
05:01They were feeling pretty good and they wanted to continue.
05:04And Aiden was well aware that he'll have to curb his intensity just in terms of running between the wickets
05:10to allow Timber to ease his way through it.
05:14Can I just jump in there?
05:15We've seen Timber, it feels like he's been fighting his whole life for all sorts of reasons.
05:19And he's fighting again because of his hamstring.
05:21What do you think anything like that says about him?
05:23Well, it says a lot.
05:32You know, it's not done yet.
05:35But as you say, he's had to fight throughout his career.
05:40And this could be a defining moment for his career, I believe.
05:44You know, it's the biggest stage in terms of test cricket.
05:53Maybe I should answer the question after the game.
06:01I was actually going to ask some similar questions to Timber.
06:05But I guess the fact that Aiden was also so adamant,
06:10what does that say about, I guess, the respect that this team has for him as a leader?
06:16And just how tough is he going out there with that?
06:20He's tough. Timber is tough.
06:22Aiden has great respect for Timber.
06:26In fact, I think this team's greatest strength is the unity that they have in this camp.
06:35You only have to look at Tristan Stubbs, celebrator, a wicket, to understand that.
06:41And, you know, they are well aware that South Africa have had much greater individual players.
06:50But they've got something special going up in that dressing room.
06:53And, you know, that sort of helps them to drag each other along.
07:02Just a follow-up.
07:05Yeah, just to quickly say, like, just in that, you'd rather answer some questions tomorrow.
07:10Like, how hard is it to stay calm for everyone right now?
07:15I think Shukri must get a lot of credit for that because that's one of his strengths,
07:20making sure that everybody stays calm within the dressing room.
07:24So as soon as Aiden and Timber came up the stairs, the first thing he said was,
07:28guys, will you do the same as you do every night?
07:32Don't change a thing.
07:33Tomorrow morning, come and do the same warm-ups that you do every day.
07:35Just the same processes.
07:39You know, we obviously understand the magnitude of the situation and what's at stake.
07:43But just to stay calm and take it, you know, take it in your side.
07:51Ash, the narrative around South Africa cricket and not getting over the line,
07:58but the little individual moments, Aiden not kind of producing,
08:02Timber kind of fighting, as Telford said, even Lungi last night.
08:06Do the individuals kind of see themselves within a broader narrative and, like, proving people wrong?
08:11Do you guys address that sort of, as I said, broader context?
08:15Is that something that you guys speak about?
08:16Or is it just something you like the cricket taker of itself?
08:18No, if I'm honest, in terms of the build-up, even before we got here,
08:23there was no talk about proving anybody wrong.
08:27You know, obviously, there was a lot of thought about our route to the final
08:31and who we played against, whatever the case may be.
08:33And people have their opinions about that.
08:36I can promise you now that we'd love to play against everybody more often
08:41You know, especially if there's some big money series that we can also make some money.
08:48You know, so as far as that's concerned, you know, it's not about proving anybody wrong.
08:54But I think the important thing from Shukri's point of view also is to make the players aware
09:00of how good they are.
09:02And that's a big thing.
09:04They are good players.
09:05And, you know, if you take them lightly, you might come short.
09:12I'm sure Australia wouldn't have approached the game in that manner.
09:16But perhaps the rest of the world, watching the final or predicting what's going to happen in the final,
09:21might have had that opinion.
09:23But there's some great players in there.
09:26KJ Rabada is phenomenal.
09:27Led the way from the front five on day one and then four in the second innings.
09:33You know, there's some unbelievable players up there.
09:37And when you put it all together, you can achieve great things.
09:40Asher, on the way that the intent with the bat yesterday morning started by Temba,
09:48that it's continued into the start of the second innings, obviously he's led that.
09:53But how much of a role did you play and what was your messaging to them yesterday morning
10:00and to try and carry that over into how they did this afternoon?
10:05I think what we try to do is always bring perspective.
10:12I think, you know, having read a few things, a lot about our first innings,
10:19a lot has been said about maybe negativity or too defensive.
10:26What I would say is that you have three of the world's best fast bowlers
10:32who hardly missed length at all in that 22-23 over period
10:38on conditions that, let's be fair, suited the bowlers on day one.
10:45And when I talk about perspective, you know, let's shoot straight.
10:50212 all out could have been 140 or 150.
10:54You had one or two decisions been given
10:56or we had made the right call on a review.
11:02So the fact that we were bundled out for 1-3-8,
11:06I don't think is far off what they achieved
11:09had one or two decisions gone our way.
11:14Ashul, you spoke about how calm the coaches kept everyone in the dressing room,
11:19but it's cliched, but when a partnership like that is going on
11:22in a big World Cup final, are there any superstitions?
11:25Are people allowed to move?
11:26And you played a lot of test figures as well.
11:29Are you going to sleep tonight?
11:31How has it all been so far?
11:34I'm not sure about how I'm going to sleep tonight.
11:36But, yeah, I think, you know, there was a bit of a sense
11:40that everybody's got to stay in the same seats up there.
11:47I think when, I wouldn't say there's any particular individual
11:50that's really superstitious up there,
11:53but, like, when you have some sort of rhythm going,
11:58you just want to maintain the same rhythm, I think.
12:00So everybody sort of got their chance to go to the bathroom
12:04at the drinks breaks or when Timba had to get some treatment,
12:09we could stand up and get to the bathroom.
12:11But that's all good.
12:13Like I say, that's one of the things about them
12:16is that they're really tight.
12:18And obviously, they're just there cheering on every ball,
12:22loving every ball with those two out there.
12:23Yeah.
12:25Ashul, we've seen KG take nine workouts.
12:28You've seen Aiden is a depth.
12:30The first capping, it's 100 timbers on the verge.
12:33How important is it in a game like this
12:36for your senior players to shoulder the responsibility,
12:39particularly when you have a very young line-up?
12:42Yeah, I think it's massive that they lead from the front.
12:45And I think the young players, you sort of,
12:48they get dragged along.
12:51Lungingiri is not a young player,
12:52but he came to the party as well.
12:55I think it's, you know,
12:56you have to recognize certain performances
13:00and sometimes it's not measured only in the wickets column.
13:05Vian Mulder bowled the spell in the first innings
13:07where he conceded one, 1.5 runs and over.
13:11You know, there are certain passages of play
13:13that you have to recognize
13:14and they all contribute in the end to where the team is at.
13:19But certainly, you know,
13:21you need your senior players sort of to lead from the front
13:24and Arribada is phenomenal.
13:27This morning, this first kind of hour tour of play
13:35must have been pretty frustrating.
13:38How were you feeling as Australia were kind of piling on the runs late
13:42in their innings?
13:43And was there any issue once the team was back in
13:49and preparing to go out to bat,
13:50getting them up again and maintaining them?
13:52No, I don't believe there was any issue.
13:56So if first of all,
13:58to answer the question about how Australia
14:00were going about their business,
14:02I would rather suggest that they were
14:03going about their business quite comfortably.
14:06I wouldn't necessarily say they were piling it on
14:08because there was a lot of maidens.
14:11There was a lot of tight overs.
14:14They were comfortable.
14:16And as I said,
14:17we tried to take the positives out of that,
14:19that if number 9 and 10 or 10 and 11 can be that comfortable,
14:24surely if the stats suggest that the pitch plays its best on day three,
14:29perhaps that's what's happening.
14:30And when you add the sunshine to that,
14:33I think that's exactly what happened.
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