00:00Evening everyone, thanks for joining us for this post-match press conference.
00:03Just a reminder please to ensure your mobile phones are all either on mute or vibrate
00:07and ensure you've got a microphone in your hand before you ask a question.
00:11Who'd like to go first?
00:13Thanks for that.
00:15Adam, four wickets after the campaign, Australia's had that had to feel good on some level.
00:26Yeah, it feels okay.
00:27Like, you come into these games, it's a bonus to get some wickets and come up with a win,
00:33but I reckon I'd probably be feeling exactly the same if I got none for tonight.
00:40Yeah, feeling pretty hollow, to be honest.
00:44Again, you'd prefer to have the wickets than not, but it's probably the worst feeling fourth I've ever got.
00:52When did that feeling set in?
00:55Well, probably when there was about 13 to win against Sri Lanka and I was bowling that over.
01:05I felt like the game was done.
01:07So it's been a tough few days.
01:11Yeah, higher expectations of ourselves, of myself, what we've built as a group over the last two years, the way
01:20we've played.
01:21We've played some really good bilateral cricket.
01:23So to be sitting here right now, knowing that I'm flying home tomorrow, it doesn't feel like the result that
01:32we...
01:33I definitely, I didn't envision this, that's for sure.
01:36So it's a flat feeling.
01:37I know it's a little bit uncomfortable to talk about, but whatever you can say, how have the conversations in
01:42the last few days been around the camp and the team?
01:46Hasn't been a lot said.
01:49Yeah, it hasn't been a lot said yet.
01:51I think there will be.
01:53We'll dissect it, that's for sure.
01:55But currently there's not much you can say, particularly when we have one game left and four days to kill.
02:03Yeah, get through this one and then we'll get home and I'm sure there'll be a review of it.
02:09Was it tough to kind of get everyone, because I mean, obviously the result was pretty one-sided.
02:14Was it tough to get everyone kind of motivated for this match or was there still a lot of pride
02:20to kind of play for?
02:21Yeah, there's pride for sure.
02:23As I said, we're disappointed.
02:25So important that we finished well and we did, you know, we should dominate these games and we did tonight.
02:33So there's that.
02:38Matt?
02:39If you were asked to explain or give your reasons for what went wrong, where would you put it?
02:46Maybe there's a few issues I'm guessing, but how would you rank it?
02:51Yeah, I guess looking back on the two games we lost, Zimbabwe, probably the best wicket that we've had or
03:00seen in the whole competition in Sri Lanka.
03:02It was a really good batting wicket.
03:05Daytime it might have slowed up a little bit, but 170 with the top seven that we have, you would
03:14think would be a canter.
03:16But being four down in the power play put us under pressure.
03:19So you look back on that power play, how could we have gone about that a little bit different?
03:23And then the Sri Lanka game being one for 110 and then getting bowled out for 180.
03:29It's, you know, can you marginally improve that to get to 200 and 210 and almost make it an unlosable
03:39game if you bowl half decent?
03:41You know, even 180 I think we probably could have done a little bit better with the ball, but it
03:46took the wind out of the sails.
03:47I think that last 10 overs with a bat against Sri Lanka and we probably, you know, Nisenka, we get
03:52him out and bowl a bit better to him.
03:54It might potentially look a bit different, but I think looking back, it's probably just under pressure.
04:01Like, you know, we've been able to do it in bilateral series, you know, you look back six months ago
04:07to the Westerners, we won 5-0 and we played unbelievable cricket.
04:11Guys hit the ball out of the park and, you know, you can look back and say there was probably
04:15hardly any pressure compared to what we come up with in a World Cup.
04:20And once that was on the line, we weren't able to do it, unfortunately, so it's really disappointing.
04:27Does that hurt more because maybe it's a thing Australia, as a cricketing team, has always been able to pride
04:33itself on that you come to World Cups and almost always perform?
04:40Yeah, I guess we're renowned for being, you know, good tournament play teams, but I think since we won in
04:452021, we've been, again, we kind of get through the World Cup really disappointed, 2022 and 2024.
04:53Particularly those two teams, I think we probably should have given it a nudge and get close to winning it.
04:59You know, you never know what happens in the end of these tournaments, but the two teams we had in
05:03the last two World Cups in particular, I think really disappointing results.
05:07And then the way we bounced back and played for the next 18 months to two years, played particular brands
05:13of cricket to get to the next World Cup and then, again, not quite do it when it matters.
05:19You know, I think, you know, the last three days for me is reflecting on how the last three World
05:25Cups have gone, how they have with, you know, what we've done in between.
05:31I think, like, you know, number two and number three in the world generally behind India, we always give India
05:37a run for their money when we play them in bilateral series.
05:40Sometimes they beat us, sometimes we beat them.
05:42So we're a good team, but then results like this, it's just, it's hard to fathom.
05:48There's a bit of a narrative online in particular, I'd say that Australia doesn't care as, I don't know if
05:55care is the right word, but care as much of value T20 cricket.
05:58Would you refute that? You'd say that's absolutely not the case. Australian cricket as a whole?
06:04It's totally false, yeah.
06:08The time that the coaches and the staff put into how we're going to play our T20 cricket and who's
06:14going to play each role and our preparation is, I think they'd probably put as much time into that than
06:20they would test cricket.
06:21I think, you know, potentially even more.
06:23I don't know, but potentially even more time because T20 cricket, one day cricket, everyone's a lot tighter in the
06:30world, whereas test cricket, you know, Australia and top two, three teams are quite dominant.
06:35So I don't think the work is needed as much, whereas with this format in particular, it's a lot tighter.
06:42So the work is definitely there.
06:44It's just, you know, you, I think the Australian public struggle with the fact that they don't get to see
06:52much whiteboard cricket play.
06:53We play like three to six games in the summer and we do a lot of our work away from
06:58Australian time, so they don't get to see the way that we kind of play and have prepared for these
07:04World Cups.
07:05And we've, we've, we've done some, some, like played a lot of really good cricket up until now.
07:10So it's, yeah, it's, it's disappointing that it's ended like this, but I think that the work and the time
07:17is as much effort as the other formats.
07:19And just one more quickly, sorry.
07:23It obviously won't affect you going on in the tournament, but we've ended up in a situation where the four
07:28group winners are all in one side.
07:29The four have come second and with this preceding, the next World Cup is in Australia and like logistics and
07:36ease for fans to get tickets and things like that is often put forward as a reason for this preceding.
07:41Does that need to change?
07:45Great question.
07:46I, yeah, I'm not, I'm not sure.
07:51I think it could change like for sure.
07:53I think if you win a certain amount of games in your group, you should be playing against the seeds
07:58that make sense and you don't, you don't precede like franchise competitions.
08:02You don't need to do that for that.
08:04So the tickets, people who want to buy tickets, they'll buy them if they want to.
08:08So I don't necessarily believe that preceding is important.
08:13I think in the future, if you finish first and you're in group A and you're playing against group B,
08:19you should be playing the team that's probably not won as many games.
08:25You could obviously see the gulf between the associate nation and a strong team like you.
08:32Obviously, there have been associate nations who have played much better against the test playing in this edition.
08:38Could you just send, obviously you've played a lot of cricket, so what a message could you possibly convey to
08:46the Omani cricketers who don't have that much of experience and they've also spoken about the lack of franchise cricket
08:53and it's a very young team.
08:55So, obviously, the difference was very stark as evident today in the victory, but what possible message could you send
09:03across to the Omani team?
09:06I think for any team in particular, you see what Zimbabwe have done, the other teams that have given test
09:19nations a run for their money, I think you don't get better and you don't get used to that kind
09:23of step up.
09:24If you don't expose yourself to it more, and I think, you know, for Omani, for example, they've played us
09:30twice in the last years, they've played against some good opponents, so that'll naturally make them aware of how to
09:36get better and where they need to be.
09:38So, I think, you know, you've seen it with Zimbabwe, they've got guys who are playing franchise cricket and they're
09:42exposing themselves to better cricket.
09:44You know, you don't get better at bowling without not bowling, you know, that's the same thing, you don't get
09:49better, you don't get better at playing against better opponents without playing against them, if that makes sense.
09:56So, yeah, these competitions and World Cups and franchise cricket are important for that.
10:02Thanks, David.
10:03Thanks, everyone.
10:04Thanks.
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