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T20 World Cup 2026, ENG vs PAK: Speaking to the reporters before the match against Pakistan on Tuesday, Liam Dawson said that England can play much better cricket, but are in good shape after their win against Sri Lanka.
Transcript
00:06Just how important was that win today given the situation of the group we had a washout last
00:12night to start on a winning note today how important was that? Yeah Massie if you obviously
00:16get to this stage of the tournament it's almost a new tournament now for every team here so yeah
00:21to get a win in the first game for us was was pretty good. Still not put that perfect game
00:25together as I'm sure you've heard Harry just said does that give you more confidence of what lies
00:31ahead? Of course we know that we can play a lot better than what we've played but at the end
00:36of
00:36day in tournament cricket you just need to get the win you know however ugly it looks and yeah today
00:40I think we we probably didn't bat as well as we'd like to have batted but I thought the way
00:44we the
00:45fight we showed with the ball in the field shows that this team's in a very good place. And Pakistan
00:51next have you guys spoken yet about how to combat Usman Tariq? No not yet obviously fully focused
00:58on this Sri Lanka game but yeah we've got obviously tomorrow to have a look at the the Pakistan team
01:04obviously they're a very good team some dangerous players and obviously Tariq's obviously a very good
01:07bowler so yeah I'm sure the boys do the homework there tomorrow. You came in ahead of Jamie Overton
01:14today what were your instructions when you came in how did you think you went? Obviously not ideal
01:20six off twelve um obviously like to have hit a couple of boundaries but yeah I think it's just
01:24uh trying to hold Jamie a little bit further back for for when the seamers came on um obviously lost
01:29a
01:29few wickets but yeah but obviously likes a few more runs but yeah we've got the win which is the
01:33main
01:33thing. England have struggled against spin in this tournament so far and Pakistan obviously have
01:39uh a lot of spinners in their in their team uh is that an issue how do you improve from
01:45here?
01:45Well I think we're very good in the bilateral series here against Sri Lanka um the way we play spin
01:50um
01:51you know we've had a couple of you know tough games potentially but we've won um and then today we
01:57we
01:57know that we can bat a lot better than what we've batted um but we we've won games of cricket
02:01and that's
02:01the main thing. And you have been the word that's been repeatedly used about your performances so far
02:07with the bat is tentative um did you feel at the end of your innings that you'd fallen into that
02:14trap again or did you feel that you and you have a score that you could you know defend in
02:21the way
02:21you did? Well I think we're a little bit short if we're honest probably 160 was probably a decent
02:25score on that wicket um but I thought the way Phil Salt played you know he you know his normal
02:30game is
02:30to attack um from ball one I think he reigned it in really well there he was the batter in
02:34sort of
02:35he had to try and bat a little bit deeper than probably what he would normally bat so I thought
02:37he did an outstanding job um but yeah we had we didn't have no choice as a FEM 146 you
02:43know we
02:43know that you've got to bowl a team out probably to win that game and I thought the way we
02:46fought
02:46on the field and with the ball is exceptional.
02:52Liam I know Tom's definitely faced um Tariq before um have you played him? I don't think you have have
02:59you no um has there been much chat just because there's been so much chat about him during the
03:04tournament has there been much around the dressing room I know we saw Harry trying to ball with his
03:08action in the next the other day but has there been much chat about him just generally? No not really
03:12um I think you know it's not all about Tariq I think they've got a very well rounded team as
03:17well you
03:18know they've got a lot of very good players in their team so he's obviously a good bowler they've got
03:22a
03:22as I said before a very good team um so we won't just look at him we'll look at the
03:26whole team and
03:26see how I can nullify that. Richard and I will take one more after that. Yeah I was going to
03:31ask
03:32certain cricket grounds bring out the best in players people have their own favorite grounds
03:37did you feel coming here that as a team that you're actually quite glad to be in Palakali the way
03:42you've
03:43been playing over the last month or so? Well I think we had a as I said we had a
03:46really good series
03:47here against Sri Lanka um in the lead up to the World Cup with conditions that we could potentially
03:52expect to come against us in the World Cup and I think today's wicket was a a lot better than
03:55what
03:55we played on during those three T20s um so yeah we've obviously had a lot of game time at this
04:01ground um but as I said we we've yeah a lot of experience in these conditions and that holds you
04:07in good stead but at the end of the day you've still got to play good cricket on the day
04:10um obviously
04:11a different challenge on choosing Pakistan a night game I'm guessing the pitch will be a little bit
04:15different um but yeah we'll have to come Tuesday and see what it looks like and you know make a
04:19plan
04:19to try and win the game. Spins clearly too much spin a lot here and obviously there's yourself and
04:24Will and Rash and you seem to be sort of alternating who bowls when is that is that something that's
04:31one of the developments of this team being able to be versatile and when when you come on to bowl?
04:36I think so yeah I think we're all very different type of spinners as well um obviously Jaxie gets
04:40very good overspin very good bounce um obviously Dilly has all his variations in me I sort of
04:46don't get the bounce that the other two get so yeah we're very different in in how we go about
04:50things um I think the way Brookie sort of captain today was was phenomenal how he used us all
04:55differently um but yeah obviously different challenge on Tuesday night game um could be a
04:59better wicket we'll have to wait and see what happens and he was Harry was saying that it was a
05:03toss-up between you and and Jaxie to bowl open the ball you're basically ready to bowl whenever
05:08so if it's power play or or whatever yeah we you know I spoke to yesterday they said about you
05:12know
05:12you might ball on the power play depending on the situation so you you get that comms very early
05:16from from the from the captain the coach um but I think that's the beauty of this ground I think
05:20you know you can bowl whenever and be versatile so yeah we've obviously got three or even bethel four
05:24good spinners um that have exploited conditions here in the past and as I said we'll have to see what
05:30Tuesday holds it might be a lot better wicket and different plans might need to work differently but
05:33we'll have to wait and see
05:36Harry said that because you defended 130 here
05:39not too long ago that you know today you had 17 runs extra and have you felt um as a
05:45spinner
05:45um his kind of trust in in the spin group in general change over the last month um since you
05:52guys kind of arrived in Sri Lanka I think we're all very experienced um I think you look at the
05:56amount of cricket that sort of me and Adil have played even even Jaxie as well um it's probably only
06:00really Beth that's probably a little bit less than experience when it comes you know with bowling um
06:05um but yeah he puts a lot of trust in in the guys to go out there and and try
06:08and execute what you
06:09want to try and do um some days it works and obviously some days it doesn't but that's I think
06:13team training can be a little bit fickle sometimes but yeah he's done well so far and hopefully he can
06:18continue for for however long this tournament goes on for us and yeah just for you guys as a spin
06:22well
06:23three or four what are the kind of chats you have in between games and how are you all kind
06:26of helping
06:26each other well as I said we're all very different um you know out of the three or four of
06:31us up I'm
06:32probably more the defensive spinner in in this and I know that's my role and um I'm just trying
06:37to be consistent for the captain obviously Adil can use all of his tricks and you know he's used
06:40he comes on to get wickets and get us back in games or puts ahead in games obviously Jaxie's been
06:45brilliant he's exploited conditions here very very well with the overspin he gets um so we're all very
06:50different um and yeah hopefully we can continue obviously including Beth in that as well and have you
06:55worked a lot with Beth as a you know another slow left arm I've not worked loads of him no
07:00obviously
07:01um obviously being around the next you bowl a little bit um together but yeah obviously
07:05anytime he'd want to chat obviously would help him and vice versa he he's more over the top the way
07:10he
07:10bowls sort of more overspin that's something I'd love to to get better at so yeah obviously works both
07:15ways and rules learning thank you so that's 6pm Sri Lanka time tomorrow
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