New Zealand all-rounder Will Young celebrated his stunning century against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy opener but stressed that team success mattered more than personal milestones. He credited this mindset for maintaining composure and delivering a crucial knock on February 19.
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00:00Hi, Will. Congratulations on the century. What do you think, like, you did not have
00:14to take any risks during your innings, you know, and it seemed like a very seamless innings.
00:21And as we compare it to Pakistan, they were kind of struggling to, you know, keep going.
00:25So, like, do you want to talk about it?
00:27Oh, certainly. It didn't seem risk-free. I suppose one thing our batting unit talked
00:35about was creating partnerships throughout our innings. And it was only a small partnership
00:40with Dev, but we got the ball rolling. And then, unfortunately, we lost Kane early and
00:46Darrell not long after that. So, Tommy and I talked about obviously building a partnership
00:53and just felt like, you know, if Pakistan got three or four dot balls, we managed to
00:59get a boundary away not long after. And it just kept the momentum of the innings going.
01:05And then I think we got to where we wanted to after 30 overs. And I felt, or with Tommy,
01:12we both felt that the game was in the balance at that point, 140-odd for three after 30
01:18overs, I think it was. And then from there, we had a platform to launch from. And obviously,
01:25the way that Tommy and JP finished the innings was just brilliant.
01:29Young, how does it feel to keep home crowd silent for most of the time and then your
01:36knock turned out to be in winning cause for your team to start off this Champions Trophy
01:40on a high note?
01:41Yeah, brilliant to start off the Champions Trophy with a win just on the crowd. They
01:48weren't too quiet. They were a really good crowd. They were noisy throughout. So, yeah,
01:53it's been awesome playing in Pakistan. And yeah, hopefully the crowds are the same throughout
01:57the tournament because they were brilliant today.
02:00Well, fourth ODI 100, first away from home, the way you batted, you paced your innings.
02:06Are you making plans to, planning like how to score in power play and then plan about
02:12after power play? Because this is a very pure class, pure modern ODI innings that you played.
02:17And away from home, so how much it means to you?
02:20Yeah, thank you. It means a great deal to bring up my fourth ODI 100 today. As I said
02:26before, it sort of makes it easier if you focus on the partnerships that you're in rather
02:31than focusing too much about your own personal score or anything like that. But yeah, in
02:38the power play, I think the nature of the power play, there's more people in the ring.
02:44So you're going to hit fielders more often. There's going to be more dots. But on the
02:48flip side to that, there's this opportunity to score some boundaries. And I managed to
02:53get a few away in the power play, which sort of got my innings and our innings going. And
02:58then through the middle, it's a different challenge altogether. You know, spinners come
03:02into it, forefielders out, sort of the gaps open up and you try and score off as many
03:09balls as you can to keep the momentum going. So yeah, very pleased with the way things
03:15panned out today and yeah, have a meaningful contribution on the game with my partnership
03:22with Tommy.
03:23Q To be completely honest with you, I don't
03:52know. Tommy and I knew we were in a little bit of trouble three down and we didn't want
03:58to look too far ahead and start talking past scores and things like that. We wanted to
04:03get to 30 overs three down. That was our first goal. Then the next phase was to the 35th
04:10over and then I got out after that. But when I came off, I think I got out in the 38th
04:18over. I was saying to the boys I thought 280 was a really good total. If the seamers
04:24hit a good length, it was difficult. The odd ball was going down. We saw from the Pakistan
04:30spinners as well that when they slowed the ball up especially, it would hold in the surface
04:37and there was a bit of turn there. And when they fired it through a little bit quicker,
04:42it was skiddy. So it wasn't easy. And I thought 280 was a good score and obviously the way
04:47GP and Tommy got things going, it was just brilliant the way that they finished off
04:52the innings. And to get to 320, we all felt that we were slightly ahead of the game at
04:57that point. But in the same breath, as you say, Pakistan chased down 350 on the same
05:03wicket. So we knew we had to start well and thankfully we did that and managed to keep
05:07it going.
05:34Have I got my words? Or should I repeat it?
05:36Can you repeat?
05:37Okay. I'll repeat it again. Okay. So it's regarding, yesterday I've asked Tom Latham
05:42also regarding pitch behavior. And I've asked him that pitch behavior in the second session
05:48will be difficult for the batting. And we have seen today it was the same. So it is
05:54too early to say about the group winner.
05:56We've got Bangladesh next, and then Islamabad, and then we've got India, our third game in
06:25Dubai. So just game at a time. Obviously it's nice to get that first game under the
06:30belt with a win, but we travel to Islamabad tomorrow and got to prep for a different side.
06:36And obviously we're fully prepared for Bangladesh to suit these conditions and be a really tough
06:44team to beat. So yeah, just focusing on our next objective there is to beat Bangladesh.
06:54With taxes and Glenn Phillips back east, how does he keep doing it?
06:58Good question. He's a special man, Glenn Phillips. He's got a very unique diving style, doesn't
07:06he? He lets the ball come and just seems to pluck it out of the air, especially square
07:11of the wicket. He's so, so good. So yeah, obviously the huge wicket of Rizwan again
07:16was key and it just put the icing on the cake of our power play really as well. 20-odd for
07:22two is a lot different to one down. So yeah, fair play, Glenn. Well done.
07:27Well, Tom Latham said yesterday that what was satisfying was different guys had come
07:34to the fore in every single match. And given you didn't quite have the try series, perhaps
07:39you would have wanted. Was there perhaps a little bit of extra pressure on you of the
07:42big occasion and the last three innings?
07:44Yeah, perhaps. You try not to think too much about what's happened in cricket. You know,
07:52the next game is the most important one. And if you've got the opportunity to play, you
07:56want to make the most of it. But yeah, your form goes sort of up and down, but I was pretty
08:04keen to stick to what I know I can do well, win that straight battle, wait for them to
08:11miss the lines or the lengths and go from there. And thankfully, I managed to get it
08:18done today. But yeah, it's certainly nice to get some runs after a lean try series.