New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine eager for clash against big sister Australia

India Today

New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine said her side is eager for their clash against defending champions Australia. Devine said she is unfazed about New Zealand's poor record against the Aussies and is aiming for a big impact in their opener.

Transcript

00:00You have not become Australia for the last eight years. How do you rate your

00:07system tomorrow's game?

00:08Thanks for that stat. I think it's a great opportunity. Those stats are there and we're

00:13aware of them, but at World Cups, it doesn't matter. I think records and previous results

00:18go out the window for us. It's a really exciting opportunity to take on the reigning one-day

00:22champions first up, so we love any opportunity that we get to play against Australia. It's

00:28sort of like our big sister. We're really excited about that, and come game day, both

00:33teams start on zero. Again, really excited for the opportunity.

00:38How do the teams come over to retire?

00:42I haven't retired.

00:44I haven't retired.

00:46I read from there.

00:48Are you saying I need to retire? Is that what you're saying? That's okay.

00:52It's okay.

00:54I'm not sure if you've seen the results from the last four warm-up games that we've been

01:21playing, but the middle order has been going considerably well. Matty Green, Ezzie Gaze,

01:24both scoring hundreds. I know you're probably talking about official one-day matches, but

01:28for us, we've built really nicely. We haven't played a lot of cricket, especially one-day

01:32format, over the last six to nine months, but it's certainly something that we're aware

01:36of. We know that in this competition, especially on some of the wickets that we're going to

01:41face over here in India, that run scoring is going to be incredibly important, and it's up

01:45to everyone. We can't just rely on the top four. We need the middle order. There's going

01:49to be crucial runs scored by the lower order as well at some stage during this tournament.

01:53So, I think if you look to the India-Australia series just before this, you know, 400 nearly

01:59wasn't enough. So, yeah, I think it's really exciting. As batters, we certainly know that

02:04we want to take ownership and responsibility of being the ones that do the bulk of the work,

02:08and we're really excited to be able to play on wickets like this, which I think are really

02:12conducive for scoring runs.

02:15Hi, Sophie. Vishal from Crickinfo. I'll remind you of something more positive. It's been

02:21less than 12 months since you won the T20 World Cup, although the lead-up into that tournament

02:25was not ideal. You had lost 10 matches on the bounce. But the way you beat India in the

02:31opening match really set the tone for the tournament. And this time also, like you said, you haven't

02:36played a lot of ODIs in the last six months, haven't beaten Australia in a while. Somebody

02:40reminded you. Do you think beating Australia in the first match could again set the tone

02:45for the rest of the league?

02:47Yeah, thank you for providing a positive memory. But, yeah, look, I think probably the

02:53difference between the World Cup last year and this year is the format, and that you have

02:57to play everyone in this format. So, I don't think we can necessarily focus on one game.

03:02I think for us, every match is going to be incredibly important. Absolutely, we want to start

03:07this tournament with a real hiss and a roar and make sure that we come out really strong

03:11and aggressive. And the fact that it's Australia that we play first, I think for us, what we keep

03:16going back to is making sure that we play our style of cricket. It doesn't matter who we're

03:19playing against. So, absolutely, everyone wants to win their first game. But there's still

03:24a lot of cricket. There's over a month of cricket to be played. So, for us, our focus is on making sure that we

03:29can execute our skills for long periods of time. Absolutely. We want to beat these Aussies first

03:34up and get some points on the board. But it's probably more important for us on how we play that game.

03:39And you saw the ground last night. You came here in the afternoon as well. How do the conditions look?

03:44Because nobody has played here before, out of all the teams.

03:47Yeah, I guess that's the interesting part of this World Cup is there hasn't been much women's cricket

03:52played at many of these venues. And for us here, it's pretty exciting that we get to be part of

03:56history as the first women's ODI game to be played here in indoor. So, it's going to be a lot of

04:02learning on the go here. I think, obviously, we had a training here last night. I thought the wickets

04:07were incredibly flat. Surprise. The outfield looks brilliant. And so, for us, it will be really important that we

04:15assess how conditions can change over time, obviously, with a three o'clock start. If the sun's out,

04:20obviously, when the lights kick in, whether the dew comes on board. They're all factors that we need to be

04:24aware of. But again, I go back to the fact that we want to focus on our role and our skills. I think

04:30sometimes when you can focus on when is the dew going to come or is there a bit of rain around, it can draw

04:35your energy away from what you're there to do, which is play cricket. So, yeah, absolutely, we're going

04:39to have to have, I guess, open mind, open eyes to make sure that we're, you know, learning as we're

04:44learning as we go. But again, I think that's one of the really exciting things about playing

04:49in India, as these conditions are pretty different to what we experience at home. But again,

04:54that just adds to the challenge of coming over here and hopefully having some success.

04:58Is everyone fit and available for selection?

05:01Yep. No, they are. We've got one player that we're just managing at the moment. I'd rather

05:11not say who that is, but just one player that we're managing at the moment. But everyone

05:14else is going great. I saw one player with knee or strap. Is it cool?

05:19I think we've got a few players with knees strapped. But we've got a few older people in the team. So,

05:24you know, there's usually a bit of strapping going around. But look, everyone's been able to train

05:27really well. Obviously, we were over in Dubai for a period of time as well. So, on the whole, I think

05:33we're really shaping up well.

05:36Thanks.

05:37Talking about the squad, the competition.

05:39Do you see Lola and her strength that you can only get to do?

05:42Potentially. Yeah, look, she's absolutely a chance. I think we picked her for a reason,

05:48obviously having the option of a left arm off spinner. But also her batting as well. And

05:53the thing that I've probably been really impressed with is her fielding as well. I think she's an

05:57outstanding athlete in the field. So, I think she'll certainly come into consideration for the

06:01playing XI. We haven't yet decided on our final XI. We were sort of waiting to get through this

06:04training and, I guess, have final discussions around it. But she's certainly an option, just

06:09like everyone in the team, is an option to be available for that XI tomorrow.

06:15You tell me. What do you think? I think everyone knows that spin is going to be huge over here.

06:24I think, especially as the tournament goes on, I think it's going to play a bigger part

06:28with, I guess, wearing conditions and the pitchers getting a bit more use on them.

06:33Obviously, in our squad, we're really fortunate that we've got a number of different options

06:36with the spin. I think that's, again, a big part of why we selected the squad that we did,

06:41because we want to have options throughout the tournament. So, absolutely, I think spin will

06:46definitely play a part. But equally, I think it's how players play spin as well. I think that's

06:51something that has been a real focus for us in this group, especially the last couple of months,

06:55is how we play in these conditions, how we combat, I guess, turning wickets.

07:01What do you think is the aspect of the governance of Australia?

07:06Oh, look. I think everyone knows how strong Australia is, the depth that they've got.

07:12And I guess that's what makes it really exciting, is that you can't count any of them out,

07:15that they can all contribute and perform on the day. For us, again, it just goes back to

07:20focusing on ourselves. I think if you're spending too much time looking through all the Aussies,

07:24you know, it can get in your head a little bit, because they are. They're full of superstars,

07:27they've got so much experience, you know, and they're pretty handy cricketers as well.

07:31So, for us, it's just a case of we know the plans that we want to execute against the team.

07:36And it doesn't matter whether it's Australia or India or Pakistan or Sri Lanka.

07:41If we execute the plans that we've got in place that we believe are going to be right,

07:45I think we can beat any team in this competition.

07:52Thanks, guys. Shukri. Did I get that right? Shukri? Shukri. Sorry, guys. I tried.

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