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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

February 16, 2015

Brendon McCullum

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

Q. Officially theteam, there's been a suggestion that there could be changes for tomorrow?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, look, we're going to play our cards pretty close to our chest with the team, but all the guys are fit and available, and it's a good space for us to be in.

Q. Why then would you change a winning combination?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Well, it's something we're going to‑‑ we'll obviously reveal tomorrow, but look, the guys I thought performed incredibly well the other day. We've seen in the Sri Lankan and Pakistan series leading into this, leading into the World Cup, that everyone has stood up at some stage. We're in a really good position. We've got a fully fit and strong team to pick from, so we'll just work out the strategy that we want to go in with tomorrow.

Q. Done plenty of scouting on the Scottish team?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, we did some scouting this morning on the bowlers. I've had plenty of footage the last little while that we can get our hands on and I've obviously tried to cover that, as well. That's one of our big things as a team, that we make sure we go in well planned and well prepared, but they gave us a good run for our money at Lincoln a few months ago. Yeah, we've got to make sure we're on our game and treat it as if we're playing one of the bigger teams, as well, because in this World Cup I think we've seen at the moment with West Indies under a little bit of pressure, as well, that the associate teams certainly have players capable of standing up and making things pretty uncomfortable for you.

Q. From the outside people would look at it and say this is a team you should beat; is that a fair assessment?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, look, we're definitely respectful of the opposition we're coming up against, and for us, our focus, I guess leading into the World Cup andsince we've got underway, is very much on us executing our game plan. We know it works for us, and if we can continue to execute those key things which work for us, then we're going to be hard to beat regardless of the team we play against. We probably go into this game as favorites, but I've said time and time again that games aren't won on paper, and whether you're favorites or underdogs is irrelevant once the game starts. We're going to make sure that we turn up tomorrow, play a good game of cricket, and hopefully the result will take care of itself.

Q. Where will you be watching the IPL auction this afternoon?
BRENDON McCULLUM: I haven't given too much thought to it to be honest. It's great for some guys in our team who are obviously in the auction today. I think it's symbolic of the performances that guys have been able to put up in the last little while. It's certainly not a focus from our team. It has hardly even been discussed amongst the group. I'm sure some guys will be watching it with plenty of interest and hopefully all goes well for them, and some guys who go for big money, it certainly relieves the burden on my picking up the tab every now and then.

Q. I understand the plan is to watch in Daniel Vettori's room?
BRENDON McCULLUM: I'm not sure. You might have a bit more of an insight than what I do there. Yeah, obviously Dan is coach of Bangalore, as well, so he'll be pretty active today and hopefully some of the other guys who are in it, well, they deserve to be picked up and deserve to have the opportunity to play in the IPL. It is a fantastic competition, which obviously it benefits financially, but it's also a great opportunity to play with guys from around the world who you would never normally get the opportunity to play with. As I stressed, it's not our focus, but it's something which hopefully guys get some benefit out of today.

Q. Is it a distraction you could do without?
BRENDON McCULLUM: It is what it is. It's on now, and we'll find out later today how it affects some guys. But look, it's irrelevant from our point of view. We've got a game tomorrow which we're very much focused on. The coach stressed to us this morning, as well, that in the World Cupit doesn't matter who you play, you get the same amount of points if you win. Tomorrow is our focus, and we've got the opportunity to get some more points.

Q. Is it appropriate that the auction is taking place during the World Cup?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, it's not for me to answer I don't think. As I've already said, it is what it is, and we'll see later on today whether our guys get picked up.

Q. Ed Joyce of Ireland a couple days ago and Preston Mommsen of Scotland yesterday spoke about 2019 and how it's going to be harder for the smaller teams to get in. Your views on that?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, it's obviously going to be a different World Cup in 2019. Probably won't affect me to be honest, but yeah, for those guys it is going to be difficult. But again, that's the decision which has been made, and I'm sure it's going to make the likes of Ireland and Scotland that much more determined to impress them in the 2015 World Cup.

Q. Can you just take us back to being at Albion with your old man years ago in terms of how you've got a World Cup game in Dunedin, near where you played a lot of cricket. What's the sort of feeling? Is it kind of a special moment for you playing it here?
BRENDON McCULLUM: It's pretty cool. I've got a lot of memories from growing up in Dunedin and playing on that ground out there and this ground out there. Yeah, I've had obviously many great times down here, as well, and to be able to come backand now play in such a significant game later on in your career is something I'm really proud of. Hopefully I can perform tomorrow and make a sizable contribution and I guess make it that much more special.

Q. Does it make it any more special now that effectively McCullums don't effectively live in Dunedin?
BRENDON McCULLUM: My brother's moved to Auckland. How staggering. Sheesh. Yeah, maybe. I live away, and I live in Christchurch, obviously, and we had a special win there the other day, and now to play in Dunedin, which I still very much consider my hometown, is going to be really special, a special time. I've still got lots of friends here and be nice to be able to make a contribution in front of them, as well.

Q. Brandon, as you said Scotland is not one of the big teams. How do you guard against a slip‑up tomorrow?
BRENDON McCULLUM: It may not be perceived as one of the big teams, but to stress again, the points are still the same whether you beat a Sri Lankan team or whether you beat a Scottish team. You still get the same amount of points in this World Cup, and we've said all the way along that we're very respectful of any opposition that we come up against, and we're not good enough to take any team for granted. We know what works for us and we know how we can go about trying to get that performance, and that's very much where, like I said, our thoughts are at the moment is making sure that we turn up tomorrow, bringing our best game to the ground. We will be challenged at certain times, and I've got to make sure that we're nice and calm during those stages, as well. If we do that and if things go well and if someone doesn't come out and play a blinder against us, then we should be able to, I guess, put ourselves in a strong position, but there's no guarantees in this game, either, and as we've seen with West Indies today and even Zimbabwe last night with their performance against South Africa, in this sort of format, a couple of guys can take the game away from you pretty quickly, so we've got to maintain a real, I guess, emotional stability and a calm presence out there and make sure we do seize those chances when they do arise.

Q. Can we just talk about Kane (Williamson) and his batting and how it's evolved? It's put himself up for auction tonight for the first time. Talk about how it's grown.
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, Kane is a phenomenal talent. I think we've seen many people, myself included, have said that Kane is‑‑ I believe he'll go down as our greatest ever batter, and I don't want to put that added pressure on him, but what we're seeing at the moment is a guy who is incredibly comfortable with his game, who keeps trying to develop his game, keeps learning. He works very, very hard. He's an incredible team man, as well, and I think we've seen that with some of his innings that he's looking to up the ante for the team course other than chance individual milestones along the way, and geez, it's scary to think how good he could be in the years to come. I wouldn't change him for anyone in the world at no.3. I think he's an outstanding player who's going to make some sizable contributions in this World Cup, and I guess a lot of our success or hopeful success in this World Cup will rest on how Kane and also Ross, as well, who's another big player who's performed well for a long time, how they perform in this World Cup will certainly allow us to score the runs which our bowling attack will require to be aggressive and to be able to get the results we want.

Q. Just a broader question: Mike yesterday suggested that he thinks there will be a bucketload of runs scored in the cup, field settings, batting power, etcetera, etcetera. Do you concur? Do you see this as a potential run‑fest?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yep, and I think we've already seen that pretty much every game. I think it is every game to now the team has batted first has scored over 300 runs, and I think that will continue as the tournament goes on. We've seen already that the wickets in both Australia and New Zealand are pure wickets, so it allows good ball striking and high scores to unfold. What that does is then, I guess from a bowling point of view, you've got to make sure that when you have the opportunity you can attack because wickets are so key that if you can keep taking wickets then you can limit the opposition's ability to attack, and that's one of our, I guess, philosophies, and I'm not revealing anything there because I think you guys have probably seen that strategy for us unfold, and you've also got to have a pretty calm, I guess, calm take on it, as well, because when you are going around the park occasionally, it can be very easy to give up on an over as a bowler, but geez, 14 off an over could actually be a good over in the grand scheme of things. You've just got to mitigate against those 25‑, 26‑, 27‑run overs, and that's the message which we keep talking about, as well, because 300 is chasable, 400 isn't.

Q. With what you've just said about pictures and what bowlers have to do, last night Dhoni made a point about Pakistan, the reason he thinks Pakistan are not as good as they were in the past is they have a real issue with the fifth bowler, and he doesn't think that this is a tournament where you can fiddle your way through a 10‑over block with two or three guys doing three or four each because you could be seriously hurt. Do you have a view on that? Would you concur that with the pitches as you mentioned, all that sort of thing, that you really need to have five sort of frontline, very good bowlers?
BRENDON McCULLUM: That's a good question. I guess it depends on how you play that fifth bowler, how you utilize his overs, whether you bring him in for one short over here, then maybe you go to a sixth bowler for an over or two, then your seventh bowler for an over or two, and you're trying to work it that way. I think it's very hard for two part‑timers to operate at the same time, and I guess one of our strategies is to attack from one end and then I guess fiddle from the other end at times, as well. There's no guarantees, as well, that your five frontline bowlers are all going to be able to stand up on the day, so sometimes you have to have other guys who you can throw the ball to, and I think we've seen with the likes of Grant Elliott and Kane Williamson that we're prepared to go to them, and that maybe in pressure times, maybe during the powerplay, that we go to them, as well. You've got to back those guys when you give them the opportunity, as well, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but as long as you're making proactive plays, then you allow those guys to be able to enter the game with a bit of confidence behind them, as well. I think if you're reacting and you're having to go to those guys, then it's a different game altogether.

Q. Have you had a chance to look at the pitch, and what do you make of it? Obviously a lot of runs scored here last time. What are your thoughts?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Pitch looks really good. The ground looks great, I think, as did Christchurch the other day, and even watching the game last night, Hamilton, I think, the grounds, they look outstanding. Obviously Australia is a different kettle of fish in terms of their size grounds and things like that, but I think our grounds are really, really good. They've got some quirks about them, and this one, as well, with the boundaries straight, obviously a little bit shorter, but there's certainly some get‑out areas, as well, for bowlers with the big boundaries, but I think the pitch looks really good. I'd expect a lot of runs, especially if we get, I guess, some clear skies over here, which I believe is forecast, then I'd expect a lot of runs, I guess, similar to the games we had against SriLanka down here.

Q. You said Kane Williamson has the potential to become the best known batsman in the world, probably best No.Ã‚3. How do you see him, he and Virat Kohli is also probably one guy who has that potential. How do you compare the two as far as quality is concerned, and if Kane Williamson gets on the IPL team, does he get a better player when he comes back? How do you see that because you know how IPL works.
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, look, Virat is an amazing player. His record is phenomenal already, and he's still such a young guy, and the runs that he scores, I think when he gets hundreds chasing, and he'll win most times. His impact on the game is outstanding, as well. I guess I'm more familiar with Kane's game and his impact on our team, which is one of the reasons why I say that I wouldn't change him. I think Kane, if he is able to pick up an IPL contract today, I think he is the level‑headed guy that he is, he will see the learning opportunities in it, as well, and hopefully if he does get picked up and he goes to a good team where he's able to continue to develop and learn, as well, because he's very open to learning, he's often speaking to some of the opposition players who are similar ilk to what he is and trying to glean any sort of advice or tips off of them, and I'm sure if he was to find himself an IPL team, then I'm sure he'd develop his game even more, which is great from our point of view.

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