00:01Well, Ash, congratulations on a great win and a great partnership.
00:08How would you rate this partnership?
00:10One of the best that you're involved in at this level?
00:14Oh, it's definitely up there.
00:16I've played cricket with PES for well over ten years now,
00:19so we have a great understanding of each other's games
00:24and, you know, I guess we've got that trust in each other
00:27that whatever we say in the middle, it's almost that accountability piece
00:31where, you know, we were really specific and deliberate
00:35in the way that we were speaking at in the middle today.
00:38And, yeah, I guess just understanding each other's games,
00:41giving each other options also out there.
00:44So there's not too many other people within this unit
00:47that I've played that much cricket with.
00:49So, yeah, to have that, yeah, is pretty cool.
00:57Ash, the run rate was sort of ten-plus getting to elevens
01:01and twelves at certain stages there, especially early innings.
01:04What was the confidence like between you and PES
01:06in terms of staying on top of the chaser?
01:10She spoke about really targeting the early stages of overs.
01:13How important was that and kind of just slowly chipping away at that total?
01:17Yeah, I just think in T20 cricket year that's kind of the focus
01:21is, you know, not thinking about the whole over.
01:24It's, you know, breaking it down because, you know, as a bowler,
01:27if you get hit for a boundary in the first two balls,
01:29you've kind of got to win the over back
01:31and sometimes that can be quite tricky.
01:32So, you know, from a batting perspective, I guess,
01:35to put the bowler under pressure straight away
01:37and then to just keep capitalising on the rest of the over,
01:41you know, trying to make it a really big one.
01:42And I guess for us when we had no other option there
01:45to keep scoring at tens, we knew that that was what we needed to do.
01:50You know, choosing ends to try and target, choosing bowlers,
01:54respecting good balls but also trying to get off strike as well.
01:56So, yeah, for us it was just being able to build that platform
01:59which I think was set from the batters before.
02:02And then just, I guess, leveraging off what our strengths are,
02:05knowing that we've got so much firepower behind us as well.
02:07So, for us there was a lot of flexibility within our order
02:11that we have so many players that can do a job.
02:13And today, obviously, we were lucky enough to spend a lot of time
02:16out in the middle and hopefully build a lot of confidence
02:18going into the semifinals.
02:19For yourself, it felt like definitely the best innings
02:23for the tournament so far.
02:25And after maybe not a bowling performance that you would have liked,
02:29how important did you kind of feel that responsibility
02:31to contribute with the bat in that way in such an impressive partnership?
02:35Yeah, I guess T20 cricket's a funny one where, I guess, you know,
02:40thinking about the ball, it's your bowl hard overs
02:42and you expect players to take you on.
02:44And I guess then to put your batting hat on, you want to do that back
02:48and you want to, I guess for me, being an all-rounder,
02:50you get the opportunity to do both and, I guess, to try
02:53and win that momentum back personally.
02:55So, for me, it was not that I needed to bat well,
02:57it was just more so how can I set up my innings to, you know,
03:00to put my team in a winning position and, you know,
03:02being able to spend some time out in the middle ultimately for confidence
03:05as well.
03:07You know, cricket's a funny game where it's very humbling at times
03:10and I guess when you can try and strive for that confidence
03:12and basically just spend as much time out in the middle as you can
03:15and put your team in a winning position, that's all.
03:17I guess our team asks for every player is just, you know,
03:21taking the game on.
03:22How are we going to do that?
03:23That's going to look different for everyone.
03:24But, I guess, for Pez and I, it was, you know, trying to do that
03:28in our own unique way but then also quite succinctly as well.
03:32Just last quick one from me.
03:34You've played a lot of T20 cricket now with Pez, both in green and gold
03:37and magenta.
03:38Has she ever batted as well as she is now?
03:41She seems in pretty sublime nick.
03:43Yeah.
03:44Yeah, she's like a red wine.
03:46I think that's, you know, she's just someone that's gotten better
03:48and better and I think of just the evolution of her game,
03:52she's known that the global game has gone at such a fast pace
03:56and, you know, it doesn't settle or slow down for anyone
03:59so she knows that she needs to keep up with that pace
04:01and I guess just to watch the way that she approaches the game,
04:05the mental side of things and just being able to be really brave.
04:09I feel like sometimes that can be quite hard at times
04:12when you feel like you don't have that confidence
04:14but she's someone that always tries to take the game on
04:16and I think for someone with so much experience
04:19and so much willingness to keep evolving,
04:22it just shows younger players like me that, you know,
04:24there is no real ceiling on that stuff
04:26and, yeah, she's a fantastic leader within our group,
04:29within that space, but then just generally as well.
04:32Go ahead to Patrick.
04:34Ash, how important was it for the side to have a match
04:38that, you know, really pushed you and to come out on, you know,
04:41on the top side of that, you know, heading into the knockouts?
04:45Yeah, we certainly knew that we were going to get challenged today.
04:47I feel like every battle we have with India, it certainly goes down to the wire
04:52and today was no exception and we know the class team that they are
04:56so we knew that we had to expect that and it was just who dealt with it better.
05:01I guess there's been a lot of talk throughout this whole tournament.
05:04We've done a lot of work off the field as a whole unit
05:07and there's been a lot of buy-in to, I guess, the pressure side of things.
05:10We know that every single team is going to face pressure.
05:13It's just who can handle it the best.
05:14And for us, we know that we've got so many match winners within our side.
05:19We've got so much depth and there's so much belief within our team
05:21that, you know, when we're playing our best cricket, we can win every game.
05:25So for us, it's just being able to believe that even when things get hard,
05:28it's just being able to revert back to that, which is really cool.
05:32And then just a word on West Indies, your next opponents.
05:34They've probably had a tougher campaign to reach this point,
05:37but what do you make of them as a competition?
05:39Yeah, they're a completely different threat.
05:42You know, they've got a lot of class and a lot of firepower within their team.
05:46Also, a lot of experience, obviously, led brilliantly by Hayley Matthews,
05:49who's a player that can take away a game pretty quickly.
05:52But then you look at someone like D'Andra Dodden.
05:55She's a threat in all three phases of the game.
05:58You know, she's a fantastic player.
06:00I've had the privilege of playing with her
06:01and, I guess, just seeing how she goes about her cricket.
06:03She's so fearless in the way that she approaches it,
06:05which sometimes can be quite scary because, you know,
06:08that she can flick a switch pretty quickly.
06:10But then just to see the, I guess, inexperience as well that they've got
06:14and that rawness that they've got within their side.
06:17So, yeah, they definitely pose a different threat.
06:19But luckily enough, we've played a series against them quite recently.
06:22So, I guess we can do our homework in terms of how we're going to approach a new venue,
06:27a fast venue, you know, one that's really nice to bat on.
06:30So, for us, it's being able to do our homework really quickly
06:33because we've got a day to do it.
06:35And then a really quick turnaround and then just get really excited for what the occasion is.
06:48Ash, congratulations.
06:49The takedown of left-arm spinners in Radha, Yadav, and Shree Charini
06:53was particularly spectacular, led by you and, of course, Ellie Sperry.
06:58Talk us through that, you know, any particular approach you had,
07:02especially knowing the kind of tournament Shree Charini had had.
07:04And left-arm spinners in general are the toast of the season,
07:08especially in this tournament, right?
07:10Yeah, I think it's being able to respect every bowler for, I guess, what they've done.
07:14And, you know, watching Shree throughout this whole campaign, she's been amazing.
07:19And I guess, for us as batters, it's being able to put them off what they've done.
07:23And I guess the great thing that we have within our line-up
07:27is we have people that can hit all around the ground.
07:29And, you know, as a right-hander, being able to access the offside
07:32to the ball turning away is obviously really helpful.
07:36So being able to do that, whether it's using the depth of your crease
07:39or actually going at the bowler.
07:41So I think, for us, it's being able to disrupt
07:44because I feel like when Charini's bowled really well,
07:46she's settled in on a length and she's kind of dictated terms.
07:50So for us, it's being able to flip that.
07:53We want to dictate as batters and, you know, she's a young player as well.
07:57So there's a little bit of inexperience there.
07:59So you know that hopefully as an experienced player,
08:02you can try and get on top of her and then put her under pressure
08:05and then potentially she's going to throw things at you
08:07that she hasn't done before.
08:08So I think we saw that a little bit today.
08:11She turned to some different plans and it's being able
08:14to put her under pressure for, you know, a period of time
08:17which she probably hasn't had throughout the tournament.
08:20Thanks, everyone.
08:21Thank you, Sean.
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