England captain Jos Buttler on their must-win clash with South Africa at the ICC Cricket World Cup
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Hi Joss, quite a long break since the game, are you guys kind of hungry and eager to get
00:08 back out on the pitch and put whatever right from last time?
00:12 Yeah, absolutely.
00:14 Yeah, obviously, we've had a few days to let the defeat sink in.
00:22 Yeah, it's working now.
00:29 So yeah, moved on and folks had some good conversations and the energy and hunger around
00:36 practice last night was very high.
00:38 Do you expect this game to have quite a bit of energy to it because South Africa, following
00:43 your result, had a similar kind of setback of their own and I guess what we're going
00:47 to find is two teams with quite a lot to play for.
00:50 Yeah, absolutely.
00:51 I'm sure it'll be a fantastic contest.
00:53 I think a lot of time as well, we look at the opposition but a lot of focus on ourselves
00:59 as well and we've had some good conversations about how we want to play our cricket, how
01:04 we want to commit to the style that we play in and that's always more important than the
01:09 result.
01:10 We put ourselves out there, we compete, the opposition want to win games of cricket as
01:15 well so we know we won't always win but if we can stick to the way that we like to play
01:20 our cricket and get to the best version of that, we know that's the best chance that
01:24 we have of getting the positive results.
01:27 And obviously Ben has been right back into it now and looks, as far as we're aware, ready
01:32 to go, which is good news for the team but makes it maybe, gives you a few ponderers
01:38 in terms of how to balance up that team.
01:41 How tricky has it been working that part out?
01:43 Yeah, I think you've got so many options within the squad, selection is always tough and you're
01:49 working out the right balance, always venue dependent as well so it's been a good chance
01:55 to see the wicket here today and gather a bit more information as well.
01:59 But obviously Ben trained really well last night, it's great to see him back, he obviously
02:04 brings a lot on the field and with his presence and leadership skills as well, someone always
02:11 good to turn to so he adds a lot of value.
02:14 And just compared to the venues you've been, obviously you've been around the IPL traps
02:17 a lot of times, is this a good venue for England, somewhere where you really feel like you can,
02:22 I don't know, dictate terms and play your game?
02:25 Yeah, absolutely.
02:26 I think this is one of the great grounds in India, I love playing cricket here, I think
02:31 it's a fantastic cricket wicket so yeah, absolutely it should suit us.
02:36 Go to Matt and then D.
02:39 Hi Josh, it was a little while ago now but there was a great game here between the same
02:45 teams in the T20 World Cup in 2016, just wanted to ask your memories of that and when you
02:50 were talking about the fearless style that England play, presumably that night, albeit
02:54 in a different format, was a good example of what you've been talking about?
02:58 Yeah, absolutely, a fantastic game, one of my favourite games that I think had a lot
03:03 of value in terms of where we were going as a team and the direction we wanted to play
03:08 so great memories of that night, albeit a long time ago and absolutely that style is
03:15 a different format but we want to find ways to make a play, to put the opposition under
03:22 pressure in lots of different ways, that doesn't always mean hitting fours and sixes, it means
03:27 can we push back when the opposition is on top or can we really take the initiative in
03:34 different ways and that's what we want to live by as a team and we know when we commit
03:39 to that that gives us the best chance of positive results as I said earlier.
03:48 Josh you talk in very glowing terms about Chris Wokes in the aftermath of defeat, obviously
03:53 a guy who's played a big part in English white ball success in particular but maybe struggling
04:00 for a little bit of form, how have those conversations gone this week and what are the skills and
04:07 characteristics of someone like him that gives you the faith to perhaps go again this week?
04:13 Yeah, obviously history, he's been a fantastic performer for an incredibly long time for
04:19 England in all the formats and especially in one day cricket and we're all honest guys,
04:25 we're all honest professionals who hold each other to high standards and individually expect
04:30 a lot of ourselves and he knows he's not performing quite how he would like to at the minute and
04:35 that's frustrating but there's no judgement from our side, we always back all our players
04:41 that are in our team, we pick them for a number of reasons and one because they're high class
04:47 players and he's certainly one of those.
04:57 When you look at South Africa, what do you see as their particular strengths as a team?
05:03 Yeah I think they've been playing some really good cricket, I think obviously the top six
05:08 is a very strong top six and I think pace with the ball, I think that's one of their
05:14 strengths, something I think both teams like as well, we have pace in both attacks and
05:20 both teams like pace on the ball so as well it should be a really fascinating contest,
05:26 they're a really good team, you always expect a tough challenge when you play against South
05:29 Africa and it's going to be a brilliant game.
05:33 Based on that, how surprised were you then by their defeat last time out?
05:38 Yeah, surprised, I think you're always surprised when those kind of things happen, no disrespect
05:46 to the Netherlands, they played a fantastic game of cricket and deserve to win it so I
05:50 think you always have to give credit to the opposition in that instance, the bookies favourites
05:56 I'm sure would have been South Africa on the day but that's why sport is fantastic, it
06:01 throws up these upsets and everyone's on the same field trying to compete and win the game
06:08 and you have to give credit to the opposition.
06:10 Thank you.
06:11 Simon and then we'll do two more.
06:13 Josh, it felt like in Delhi you maybe read a bit too much into the way the pitch had
06:17 been played in previous games, I expected it to be similar and got punished maybe as
06:22 a result, obviously that's not an issue here, would you have liked to have that kind of
06:27 guidance here or to give you maybe more clarity that it's a fresh start?
06:33 I think trying to read conditions and get a handle on what may or may not happen is
06:38 always something you're trying to do as a team and as an individual and get a read on
06:44 how it might play but always the skill is to react on the day, absolutely.
06:49 You can go in with preconceived ideas and it's not sort of committing to them fully,
06:56 you've got to communicate well as a team, understand as an individual how the pitch
07:01 is playing, what the conditions are like, they're all parts of the game that are vitally
07:05 important so you try and gather as much information as you can before but history is history and
07:10 it's about the game in front of you.
07:14 Last question from the Indian Express, about the last matches you mentioned South Africa's
07:18 defeat as a surprise but if you look at your result as well as South Africa's, would you
07:22 dismiss it as one of those freak results at a World Cup or were you able to identify any
07:27 particular reason or reasons why at least England lost?
07:32 No, we've very much moved on and we're fully focused on the game tomorrow night, we can't
07:38 change what happened in the previous game, we trained really well yesterday, we trained
07:43 well again today and there's a lot of excitement for the game tomorrow.
07:47 Joss, you've scored nearly 900 runs on this ground in the IPL and international cricket,
07:54 most of the runs as an opener, so any thoughts of you moving back to the opening position?
08:01 No, none at all, we've got some fantastic openers in our team, it's certainly a ground
08:07 I've enjoyed playing at before, I started my IPL journey here with Mumbai as well so
08:13 it's always a place with fond memories, I think it's a fantastic cricket ground and
08:19 looking forward to playing here tomorrow.
08:20 - Thanks, Jeff.
08:21 - Thank you.