England captain Jos Buttler is confident of his team to come good against the tough spin challenge against Afghanistan, who beat them during the last between the two teams in the ODI World Cup 2023. Both teams will be eager for a win in the upcoming game as the loser of teh match will get knocked out of the tournament.
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00:00Hi Joss, obviously you're missing Brydon, but is it comforting and a bit reassuring
00:05that you have someone in Jamie Overton who's close to, you know, pretty much a
00:09like-for-like replacement? Yeah, obviously really disappointed for Brydon to be
00:13ruled out of the tournament, but yeah, it gives opportunity to Jamie Overton who's
00:18been performing really well. Like you say, similar style of cricketer, so excited
00:23for him to get his chance. Australia, South Africa we've just seen has been
00:27rained off, obviously puts faith back in your hands rather than potentially
00:31having to worry about net run rate. Is that a bit of a boost for your team?
00:34Yeah, I think the equation would be the same no matter what, that we need to win
00:38two games of cricket. So yeah, first of all we focus fully on tomorrow. It's going to be a
00:44tough test against Afghanistan, but we're really excited for that challenge.
00:48Everyone's very much looking forward to the game, try and build on the positives
00:52of the last performance and try and take home the victory. Obviously the last time
00:56you guys met was the 2023 World Cup. What did you learn from that picture?
01:02Yeah, obviously a really competitive side that have been performing really
01:07well, getting better and better over the years and give them lots of respect.
01:12We know they play a unique style in some senses, with some great spin options
01:18in Rashid and Noor, obviously two standout guys that we need to prepare
01:23really well for. But as much as we look at the opposition, it's focusing on
01:27ourselves, bringing the best version of our cricket and being confident that
01:32that will be enough to win the game.
01:34Obviously the backdrop to this fixture has been dominated by a bit of political discourse in the background.
01:39I just wonder what the deciding factor was for you to say,
01:43I'm comfortable for this to go ahead. I know you said you've chatted with Mohamed Naby
01:47and what was discussed there with you two?
01:51Yeah, I think I've taken a lot of advice from lots of experts. I think credit to Rob Key and the ECB
01:58have been very good at supporting me and all the players and giving us
02:03information and education around this and making it an ECB decision.
02:08I think we're very saddened by the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan at the
02:15moment and the struggles that they're facing. But we hope that the game
02:19tomorrow can be a source of hope and enjoyment in what's obviously a
02:24tough time at the moment. So I think we're really excited
02:29about the match. Sport has a great power to unite people and give hope and
02:35that's what we hope this game will do.
02:40Hi Joss, there's been some talk with India knowing where all their games will be in Dubai.
02:48That gives them a big advantage. Is that something you've got a view on?
02:52Not really. I think it's a unique tournament already, isn't it, with being
02:58hosted here with one team playing in a different place. But that's not
03:02something I'm sort of worried too much about at the moment. I've got all my
03:06focus on preparing well tonight and our game tomorrow.
03:10In terms of the balance of your squad, does that make it harder knowing you might have to play in two
03:15different countries compared to only one?
03:17No, not necessarily. I don't think conditions are going to be too
03:21outrageously different, to be honest. So look, as I said, we've really focused
03:26one game at a time. We focused hard on the Australia game. We didn't get
03:30the result that we wanted. So we dust ourselves down and prepare really
03:35well for tomorrow and get the level of performance that will give us a positive result.
03:46Just after getting Rihann, now three spinners in the English side and on the
03:53other side of one, I have also three quality spinners. So how do you compare
03:57these spin attacks? And secondly, if this spin attack would be bowling, what
04:02would be the ideal total for the team batting first?
04:06I think there's about every game of cricket is turning up and assessing the
04:12conditions and playing accordingly. So sitting here tonight and giving you a
04:16guess at a total is quite hard. But we know that Afghanistan possesses some
04:22fantastic spinners and they're the cornerstone of their side. For us, we've
04:27got a nice mix of spin and obviously some fantastic pace bowling options as
04:31well. So we're very comfortable with the balance of our team.
04:36Harry Brooke is a great performer but he's not been doing well recently. Are
04:40you concerned about his form and what do you expect from him in the next match?
04:44No, I don't have any concerns for Harry. Harry is one of the biggest and
04:50brightest young players in the world game. So obviously he has high
04:54expectations for himself and wants to perform well and be a match winner
04:59for the side. And generally speaking, the player of that quality, the longer
05:04they don't do that, the closer they are always to coming back and performing
05:07really well. So we know he's an important member of the team. He's, as I said, one
05:11of the best young players in the world. So we've got full trust and
05:15confidence in him.
05:23Hi Joss. The Afghan captain Hashimoto Lashahidi was here and one of the
05:27things he said was it suits Afghanistan slightly better generally when they're
05:31bat first. And I just wondered if you have a view on whether you'd like to
05:35bat or chase, given that you seem to be a bit of a factor against Australia?
05:38Yeah, I think obviously in the Australia game the Jew did come in and second
05:43innings probably skidded on a bit better. But no, we'll sort of, as I said, each
05:48game is individual. You've got to play well. You know, the toss doesn't guarantee a
05:52result either. So whatever happens at the toss, we know we need to put in a level
05:57of performance to win the game.
06:00This side of the back please.
06:02Hi Joe. You know the last match was totally a batting wicket. What do you expect from
06:06the tomorrow pitch? Especially it will be a batting or useful for the spin.
06:12And what do you think, what about your pace attack? Especially the way they
06:17bowled against Australia. It wasn't up to the mark.
06:20Sorry, can you repeat your question?
06:23Yeah, are you going to change some of your fast bowlers? Because in the previous match
06:28they were not up to the mark. Australia chased 351. That was a huge target.
06:33But despite a heavy target, they chased it out. And what about your group position?
06:38Because today's match was abandoned and now every match is doing the situation for every team.
06:43Yeah, I think pretty much from the start of the tournament, every game is a must win.
06:48So, you know, we've got two games left and to progress further, we know we have to win
06:53those games. So that's a very clear situation for us to be in.
06:57And I think the other question about the seam bowlers, we got great confidence in those guys.
07:04Level of performance was good. And as always, there's little areas we want to improve
07:09and chase that perfect game.
07:11Go ahead, finish with Ali.
07:13I got it.
07:14Okay, no worries. Ali, just pass the mic down to Matt please.
07:19Thank you. See you later.
07:22Josh, you said after the T20 World Cup last year, you were sort of slightly concerned about your own job.
07:26You got renewed by Rob Key to carry on in the role.
07:30Do you feel like the stakes are quite personally high on this match?
07:33Like it's, you know, obviously, the team's right on the precipice here.
07:38Yeah, absolutely. I think any time as an England captain, you know, you want to perform
07:45and you want to perform well and you want to lead your team to winning games of cricket.
07:49So we haven't been doing that enough in the recent past.
07:52But, you know, very soon as you sort of catch yourself thinking about any negative things
07:57or those kind of things, try and completely flip that and focus on all the positive things
08:01that could go right and where you can take the team.
08:04So, yeah, very much focused on that.
08:06Just to follow up on that question earlier about the quicks and kind of what you're expecting from them this game,
08:11given the Australia game, how was the kind of debrief with the bowlers?
08:14And what are you kind of expecting from them looking ahead to this match?
08:18Yeah, the debrief was pretty easy, to be honest.
08:21I thought as we all felt that we did good things in phases
08:25and probably just weren't quite consistent enough in a couple of areas.
08:30And also sometimes you've got to give credit to someone who plays in outstanding innings.
08:34So, yeah, we've sort of parked that now.
08:37We look forward to the game tomorrow.
08:39The guys have all prepared really well.
08:41We turn up with a lot of positivity and trying to impart our style of play on the game tomorrow.