England captain Nat Sciver Brunt said that the Women's World Cup is going to be a hard-fought tournament where no team can be taken lightly. England are set to begin their campaign against South Africa in Guwahati on October 3.
00:00So the first match to World Cup and England may be not one of the top two teams as well, but you had a very good warm up interview.
00:11How many games? I think you played four games and one out four. How confident are you now after getting that kind of a stat before the tournament?
00:19Yeah, obviously winning those four games is something. But I don't think we can, I suppose, take each team lightly.
00:29We know that it's going to be a really hard court tournament and starting with South Africa who have some brilliant players and have some great form themselves, to be honest.
00:39So, yeah, it's, you know, you can take a certain level of confidence, I think, from those warm up games.
00:47But yeah, the nerves will certainly be there for the first game and we'll want to do, I suppose, we'll want to do really well as well as a side.
00:56But yeah, I think the level is still, I suppose, we'll start from zero rather than start too high, I think.
01:07I think it will be, it will be important. I think, obviously, we're not playing in exactly the same venues as we did during the WPL and each venue that we go to will throw up different conditions for us.
01:34And, yeah, I think we'll be able to use that experience, especially playing in front of louder crowds and people who are really excited to watch cricket and certainly when we come up against India, we'll have to use that experience as well.
01:52But yeah, I think the experience that everyone has in the group and the learnings that we've taken from that, making sure that we share that with the people who haven't played so much over here in India, yeah, will be massively important in taking those learnings.
02:10Just a little follow-up question. When have you prepared for an important tournament like this? The pitch and the conditions are very important and adopting to those conditions are very important. You have a camp in Abu Dhabi and UAE. So how have your preparations been different for this tournament and what has been your planning? Is there anything different that you have done in terms of preparation?
02:35Well, I think that the camp in Abu Dhabi was really valuable. We got some great time out in the middle in really hot humid conditions where, you know, in England it's not like that. So I think preparing physically in that way was really good.
02:53We obviously had some wickets that will be fairly similar to here but obviously not exactly the same. But I think just honing in on all of the skills that you would need for different conditions and then as a side making sure that we're communicating really well so that everyone can adapt to that.
03:10I think, yeah, I think that's going to be a massive part of our tournament, making sure that we are adapting as quickly as we can to what's put out in front of us.
03:19Yeah, I managed to watch quite a bit of that game and I thought that the wicket looked quite good and then obviously there was a little bit of turn as well but, yeah, I think it's a big part of the game.
03:39Yeah, that's probably fairly true for the wicket for yesterday's match as well. So, yeah, it looked like in the power play it was fairly easy to score and then, yeah, we got a little bit more difficult through the middle, especially when the spinners came on.
04:02So, yeah, typically I suppose that's a blueprint that we work with, especially when we're bowling, making sure the spinners in the middle are doing a really good job for us and making it really hard for people to get away.
04:15I think that's been a really good strength of ours for a number of years and we've got a brilliant spin attack.
04:21Yeah, obviously that, you know, those sorts of combinations will play a part and I think at different times we could use different people in that throughout the tournament.
04:32But, yeah, I suppose we've got a brilliant set of players who have lots of different skills to be able to do a job in whatever role they're given.
04:43So, yeah, it's been difficult to select till 11. Yeah, we're really excited.
04:53Hi, it's the first time you'll be captaining someone like Heather Knight who played with under and with for a long time.
05:01What's the equation you share with her and given that it's kind of role reversal, she's in the ranks, you're the leader, how are you looking forward to that?
05:10Yeah, she's obviously has a lot of experience and I think it would be stupid of me not to listen to her.
05:17She's a hugely valuable person in our side, whether it's with the bat or just that tactical thinking.
05:24She's got a brilliant brain for cricket. So, yeah, I'm encouraging her to be as vocal as she wants to be really.
05:32And, yeah, any little bits that we can help the team move forward and hopefully win a game or two, yeah, we'll be doing that.
05:42And the last series that you all played against India, you were one of the goalers, now you're fit to goal.
05:49Does that kind of change the way you probably go about selecting the side?
05:54In the sense that previous time I think there was a squeeze for the number of spinners you wanted to play,
05:58whereas now you are an additional singer, any implications on that?
06:02Yeah, obviously, me being able to play a part as an all-rounder has a bit of a change to the balance of the side that we can select.
06:11So, yeah, we'd like to select seven batters to go into this tournament.
06:18Well, you said that you watched a bit of India game, but I'm going out of Australia.
06:33And your thoughts on those two teams which could be your strongest contenders in the World Cup.
06:39And how close the World Cup this is going to be? Probably one of the closest that you've been part of?
06:44Yeah, definitely. I think women's cricket is at a point where a lot of sides can be really competitive and win games in this tournament.
06:53I think we've seen from the first two games that teams who can withstand the pressure the longest will come out on top.
07:02But, yeah, both India and Australia both had a little wobble, but were able to get out of it in terms of their batting.
07:07So, yeah, I suppose, as everybody watching, it's probably really encouraging.
07:13Yeah, just to keep piling that pressure on as long as possible.
07:17And, yeah, keep doing the little things really well, I think, as a side.
07:21Yeah, that's certainly something we'll be looking to do tomorrow.
07:25Yeah, sorry.
07:37Under you and Lottie, this team hasn't had a lot of time in terms of international series.
07:44And this is a big World Cup. So, do you think, like, are you well prepared in that sense?
07:50And two series went in contrasting ways for you all.
07:54So, how well prepared do you feel given that you understood what you're looking for and what's that?
08:00Yeah, obviously, we haven't had a lot of international cricket.
08:04But I think, away from games, we've prepared really well.
08:08We've, I suppose, done a lot of learning about ourselves and the way that we want to go about it.
08:14And, I suppose, are just a few things there.
08:17But I think the games that we have played in, we've shown a lot of confidence in our ability and the way that we want to go about things.
08:25So, yeah, in terms of that, I think we've prepared brilliantly well.
08:30And, you know, without playing loads of series, yeah, we're in a really good place as a team.
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