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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

February 14, 2015

Corey Anderson

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND

Q. Corey, could that have gone any better in terms of a World Cup opener to really get you going?
COREY ANDERSON: Probably not. We obviously led into the tournament with plenty of confidence and some good ones under our belt, but we obviously knew that it all meant nothing come today. So put on a performance like that and get the points, it's really good.

Q. Corey, can you take us inside that dressing room? How does it feel in there?
COREY ANDERSON: Yeah, I think we're obviously excited for the win, but we know it's early stages of the tournament, as well. It's our first game, and we've still got a long road to go before we can start at looking to, I guess, make those quarters, as well. We'll take everything in our stride and obviously celebrate the win today and then push on for Scotland.

Q. I spoke to you last week about how important this match was for you playing in Christchurch. How important was it to put in a performance like that in front of your friends and family?
COREY ANDERSON: Yeah, it was nice. I had a few nerves before the game, this being the first World Cup game, and I settled pretty quickly when Brendon and me and Guppy went about out work and got us off to a good start. Yeah, it was exciting to be out there, and the crowd really turned out, and it was obviously a bit of a disappointment with the streaker there at the end, but it was a good day. Would have been nice if the sun turned out, but I guess Christchurch sort of played its part. But yeah, it was an exciting day.

Q. A lot of the talk has been about how good your fastballing unit is, and we saw that today, but how important were the two wickets by Daniel Vettori?
COREY ANDERSON: Yeah, massive wickets. You know, he's just so good. That's pretty easy to sum him up. He's played a lot of cricket. He's smart, and he knows how to get guys out. I think was it 34 I think he got that put them on the back foot and they had to try and take apart the other guys, and it's pretty difficult to do when I guess Tim, Trent and Milne are firing like they are, as well. Yeah, it was obviously get to great Dan get in a couple of wickets, and he's always pretty low on the old (inaudible).

Q. When Kane and Ross were out very quickly, you had the powerplay coming up, two guys coming in to start their innings, the retirements were in a situation like that, you could have lost your way in terms of that strong start. What does it say do you think about this team that you're able to press on, I guess, with the two of you with the grab for a start in the last few overs to get past 300. What do you think that says about you as a team and as a group in terms of your thinking and your confidence?
COREY ANDERSON: I think we've always been put in positions ovary guess the last 12 months to be able to adapt to what we have to deal with. It's obvious that everyone has had a good dig in the middle and everyone has chipped in with runs, as well, so we've all played our part, and I guess it's just about knowing that situation that you're in. It's always nice to have someone like Grant who's out there and he's older and played a lot of cricket, as well. Yeah, it's just one of those things, you obviously put the team first and you sum up the whole situation and go from there. When you had Ronchs sitting in the shit as well and how much, I guess, damage he can do at the end, and I knew if I stayed in and Grant got going, as well, we could put a better than par score on the board.

Q. Corey, when Dan came back, was that actually a plan to bring him back, or was it just a gut feeling on the field?
COREY ANDERSON: It wasn't planned. Dan got him out numerous times, and it obviously paid off for us as well today again. Yeah, he's just a clever bowler. It's one of those things you'd love him to bowl more than 10 but he can't, especially on that wicket. It was holding quite a bit and it was tough to get away the spinners, so yeah, he bowled unbelievably.

Q. Did Brendon say anything different to you this morning, and then what was it like to watch the captain go out and play an innings like that in this situation? What sort of a calming influence did that have on the dressing room?
COREY ANDERSON: He does have a massive calming influence on the dressing room. I guess we all know him as being someone big event he really turns it on. I guess the same with today, as well, we came out of the gates. He spoke to us the day before the game and he said he wasn't going to give us a motivational speech. It's nothing that we needed to hear, it was treated as another game of cricket and go about our work and keep, I guess, what we've begun as a juggernaut to keep rolling forward, and that's what we did. Yeah, it is what it is, but Brendon, he's been, I guess, inspirational, as well, and it's always nice to have him on our side rather than somebody else's.

Q. Looking at the team heading into the tournament, everyone looked fairly relaxed and there weren't many nerves. I'm sure there probably were heading into this game. What does a win firstly and a win in that kind of fashion do for the nerves and the team going forward?
COREY ANDERSON: Yeah, puts us in a great position. Obviously taking down Sri Lanka, which they always perform well at World Cups and at tournaments, so to take them down, I guess it's a nice feeling to be ahead of the 8‑ball leading into the second game, and obviously we've got Scotland coming up, and they gave us a decent run for our money in Lincoln when we had a warm‑up game. No, we're not taking them lightly, either. And then if we can keep it rolling and keep some momentum going, we can make a good push at it, yeah.

Q. How do you feel about your own bowling, and do you think probably you are in the race to be one of those allrounders who will be the No.1 ‑‑ end up being the No.1 allrounder in this tournament because this tournament seems to be set up as the pace bowling allrounders tournament. Do you see yourself in that race, to be the best allrounder?
COREY ANDERSON: Oh, I'd love to be. I guess that's the goal other than to win this World Cup is to obviously try and be No.Ã‚ 1 allrounder in the world. I made a decent start at it today, I guess, but I'm always going to have times where I might not be bowling or I'm going to be called on to not bowl much at all. It's just one of those things. You don't go out there trying to do everything. I guess you listen to what your captain says and you go about your business. But yeah, I'd imagine it would be more of pace bowlers, allrounder kind of feel with what kind of wickets are here in New Zealand, as well. There hasn't been too much turn. So yeah, it's just one of those things.

Q. You used the term juggernaut before about the team and sort of how they're feeling about things. Did you feel like you could really get some momentum going and get the sort of following and support that maybe the '92 squad had for the World Cup?
COREY ANDERSON: Yeah, I guess so. Obviously I was only two when that was all happening, so I can't say I was there watching it. But that captivated a nation, and I know we're going to try and do the same thing, but we want to do it in our own way, as well. They had their way, and that's what people remember them for, but we want to be remembered in our own way, as well. Yeah, if we can keep it rolling and keep the fans happy, all New Zealanders love a winning team. If we can keep doing that, it'll be good.

Q. The other day Luke was talking about the fact that he loves the fact that he knows what his role is when it comes to the batting, his position, all the situations, feels he's got them pretty well covered. Your own batting game at the moment, you must feel super confident in the way it's going for you, and do you have that same self‑belief in that you can handle whatever situations come along when you come in? Are you feeling good from that perspective?
COREY ANDERSON: Yeah, yeah, I am. I'm probably similar role to what Ronchs is, as well, obviously just one spot higher. The guys at the top do the job, and they set a platform, and they have done really well in the last sort of 12 months. It makes, I guess, the bottom order, Taylor, it makes our jobs a lot easier to tee off from that ‑‑ but if we're put in early I guess we're still good enough and got batsmanship to be able to get ourselves out of it. I always know if I guess me or Ronchs is in at the end or anyone in the top five, it's going to be pretty dangerous. I guess that's what we try and keep, I guess, preventing ourselves from I guess getting too many wickets down and all those dangerous guys are out.

Q. What was the key to taking apart Malinga today because I think it was his third worst figures or something like that. What did you do differently to take him apart?
COREY ANDERSON: Called on the guys on the team that faced him. I was lucky enough to face him at Mumbai quite a bit in the net, so it's always a lot easier to sort of read that kind of bowling. It's pretty tough when you're reading it for the first time. But he's only a couple of games back from ankle surgery, as well. He'll be better for that run he hit today, as well, and we're probably lucky we faced him early on in the tournament, as well. I can imagine he can start tearing a few teams apart later on, so I guess it's nice to sort of get him out of the way for now.

Q. Just on Scotland, you talked about treating them with respect and all those sorts of things, but is it a little different game to get up for after all the hype of this game, to play a minor nation like Scotland?
COREY ANDERSON: I don't think so. It's a World Cup. You know, I think you have to treat every game differently ‑‑ I mean, the same, sorry. It's obviously a clichÃƒÂ©. But I think we probably got put in our places a little bit in Lincoln when they did give us a run. It showed us they've got players that can play and bowlers who can bowl. We'll have to be pretty switched on. We don't want to be two or three down early on, otherwise we'll be chasing our tails. Yeah, we'll treat them as they are a very good side and go about our way.

Q. A bit of a trivia one, but what did you make of that catch in the crowd today?
COREY ANDERSON: It was a hell of a catch. We were all an our feet in the changing room. It's always good to see someone take a one‑handed catch like that. Obviously when it goes around and how the crowd reacts to it, as well, it's pretty cool. It's pretty special.

Q. Not a mate of yours, was it?
COREY ANDERSON: No, it wasn't. It would have been nice if it was, yeah.

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