00:00Good afternoon, or morning, sorry. Thank you for joining us for this pre-match press conference.
00:06Please ensure you've got a microphone in your hand before you ask a question, and we'll get started.
00:13Hi Harry. Have you had time to reflect on the first group stage, and the time we've sort of had
00:21between the end of that and now?
00:23Yeah, it was obviously a niggly start to the competition. We probably underestimated a few of the sides,
00:29and they put up a really good fight, and yeah, look, we came here to get through that stage, and
00:36thankfully we have.
00:37So we're here in the Super 8s, and that's our main focus now.
00:41Were you planning any changes or something, maybe to the baton, not to the baton line-up,
00:45but maybe the personnel of the baton line-up, particularly with yourself?
00:48There's maybe been some suggestions floating about that you'd be better suited up, higher up the order.
00:52I don't know what you think about that.
00:53No, I think Bantz has done an amazing job at number four.
00:57Yeah, just a few people haven't fired yet, but hopefully with the competition we're about to come up against,
01:04them boys can start to fire and have some good match-winning performances.
01:08What about Joss? He's obviously had a couple of low scores.
01:11You said on his podcast he was a bit frustrated with how everything's going.
01:15He's obviously come through these slumps before.
01:17How do you think he's doing around the camp?
01:19Yeah, he's fine. He's always going to be fine.
01:22He's been in situations like this many of times, and that's part of T20 cricket.
01:26It's a fickle game, and one minute he can be smoking it, and then the next minute he can just
01:31hit one up.
01:31So I think Joss will be fine, and hopefully the Super 8s can bring the best out of him now.
01:36And just on your opponents, you obviously beat them 3-0 here recently.
01:40I don't think you've lost to them in quite a while, especially in the T20 format.
01:44How much confidence does that give you heading into tomorrow, although it's still a tournament format?
01:49Yeah, we obviously had a very good series against them here and on this particular ground as well,
01:55so we can take some experiences from that three-match series and hopefully use that in the game starting tomorrow.
02:00And yeah, they're obviously a strong side with a lot of confidence as well after a few very good wins.
02:07And if we stick to our guns and play our best cricket, there's no reason why we can't beat them.
02:12We've got Simon and then Richard.
02:15So you've been captain a while now, but this is your first World Cup.
02:18How are you finding it? Is it more intense than previous experiences as captain?
02:24No, I'm enjoying it. It's good.
02:27I'm really enjoying the on-field stuff, the tactical part of it.
02:30And it's always nice when you win a few games and it probably hasn't been as easy as we'd have
02:36thought in the first part of the World Cup.
02:39But like I said, we've come through that period now and our main focus is on this next part.
02:45The performances have been magnificent, but there's a reason why you've gone for batting depth
02:53and that's been kind of needed and proven in the first few games and that is reassuring.
02:58Yeah, definitely. And I think winning them tight games as well just shows the belief and the unity that we
03:04have to be able to get through them games,
03:06albeit not against the strongest opponents, but we've still managed to find ourselves in sticky situations
03:12and got out of them with some exceptional performances in there from lads lower down in the order.
03:18The ITC published a photo of the eight captains of Super 8 teams on a bus. Did you see that?
03:25Yeah, the lads are taking the mick out of me for it.
03:27But yeah, that AI doesn't look too great, does it?
03:33I've just got to ask, there's stories about Pakistani players not being signed in the 100 next year
03:39and you obviously will be involved in one of the Indian-owned teams.
03:43Have you got any thoughts on that?
03:46Well, our main focus now is what's coming up in the T20 World Cup.
03:51It's not really any of our business, to be honest, but Pakistan, what I would say is Pakistan have been
03:57a great cricket nation for many years.
03:59I think there's about 50, 60 players in the auction and it'd be a shame to not see some of
04:04them in there.
04:04There's some amazing cricketers and they bring some great crowds as well.
04:10So it would be a shame to not see some of the Pakistan players in there and make the tournament
04:14and competition even better.
04:17Richard, and then we'll go to you.
04:20You mentioned about the all-rounders before, Simon mentioned the all-rounders.
04:23Jacob Bethel obviously got four wickets when you last played here because spin played a big part.
04:27Is he fit to bowl?
04:29Not sure, yeah. The rule with the strapping on your fingers isn't quite helping because he's got a decent cut
04:35in his finger.
04:36So he'd have to have strapping on his finger.
04:38But if there's some way we can get around that, then we'd like to bowl him.
04:42But at the minute, I don't think it's possible.
04:43So the rule being that you can't bowl with the strapping on your hand?
04:46Apparently not. So hopefully he can somehow get over that and roll a few out.
04:52How much will it have helped you playing three games recently here?
04:57Do you feel more comfortable in these conditions and confident because of that?
05:00Yeah, I think so. We obviously played three at this ground as well and we've got another two coming up.
05:06So we can take them experiences and another close game in that last T20 game of that series as well.
05:12So we can take a lot of confidence having played here and experience on this surface and this ground.
05:18And yeah, we're looking forward to the crowd as well.
05:21What do you do in terms of tomorrow's heavy rain forecast?
05:25What have you done in preparation? What can you do?
05:29If you have a five or six over game, how do you prepare differently for that?
05:32I think you just have to prepare as if it is a T20.
05:35I think you can sometimes go down a bit of a rabbit hole thinking that you're going to play a
05:40five over game
05:41and then it ends up being a T20 and you kind of play it slightly differently.
05:45So I think we've just got to prepare as if it is a T20 game and hope that the rain
05:50stays away.
05:51And then if it doesn't, then we've got to adapt and realise you've got to play the game slightly differently.
05:56So basically making sure the team are aware of adaptions.
05:59If it is a five over game, obviously the conditions dictate you're going to have to go hell for leather,
06:03etc.
06:04And maybe change the batting or that kind of thing.
06:06Yeah, absolutely.
06:07And that's one thing that we've spoken about a lot is realising that we are going to have to change
06:13and there's going to be some changes in the side so we're not too predictable.
06:16And I want us to go hell for leather in 20 overs anyway and go out there and really take
06:22it to the opposition with the bat
06:23and look to put them under pressure.
06:25So not really, not too much changes there.
06:29Harry, how about the preparation?
06:32You came here earlier this month and beat Sri Lanka in both the T20 and T20 series.
06:37How much that helped you to play as such a high-stake clash in a World Cup?
06:41Yeah, like I said, we've had the experiences here.
06:44We've seen what the crowds are like and what the venue's like as a whole
06:48and we're really looking forward to taking them on
06:50and hopefully we can play our best cricket and really put them under pressure.
06:56After that 3-0, the teams have kind of been on different journeys and different parts of the World Cup.
07:01Are you expecting anything to be different, especially in terms of form of some of the players from that 3
07:08-0 series?
07:09Yeah, some of their batters are batting really well.
07:11So hopefully we can get a few wickets in the power play and Nisanka's on a bit of a heater
07:17at the minute.
07:17So it would be ideal if we can get him out early.
07:21But look, we just want to go out there and play our best cricket, like I said,
07:26and look to put them under pressure as much as possible all the way throughout.
07:31Hello, Harry.
07:32You entered the Super 8s, no room for error whatsoever.
07:36What has Harry Brook, the captain, learned in the past few matches that could be put to use?
07:41And how is it testing you on a constant basis considering it's a World Tournament?
07:46Well, I've learned that you can't take any team for granted, as we've seen in the group stages.
07:50We've managed to sneak through in a couple of games.
07:54And yeah, like I said a couple of times, I feel like we've been slightly too careful with the bat
07:59and we can really look to put them under a little bit more pressure,
08:02especially with the batting depth that we got.
08:04And yeah, just having confidence in everybody behind you to go out there and do the job as well.
08:09Last question, please.
08:11Harry, again, you said this a few times that the batting hasn't been as fluent as you would have liked,
08:17but still you're here now in the Super 8s.
08:19So is there a change in the mindset now looking at the approach with the bat that you're going to
08:25adapt going forward?
08:27And also a word on the top order that you haven't been getting the runs as much as you would
08:31have liked.
08:32Yeah, we see it as a new competition now.
08:34Obviously with the no carrying over of points or anything like that,
08:38it's a completely fresh start and we can see it like that as well.
08:42And we can go out there and, yeah, like I said, we've just been slightly too careful.
08:47And I feel like we can probably be a bit more brave in certain situations.
08:54And like I said a second ago, it's having more faith in the guys behind us
08:59to be able to go out there and put a decent score on as well.
09:02Okay, thank you.
09:03Thanks, Sip.
09:05Cheers.
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