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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

February 19, 2015

Brendon McCullum

NELSON, NEW ZEALAND

Q. After the game against Scotland, any injuries?
BRENDON McCULLUM: No, everyone's fit and well. So good three games in seven days. I guess that's one of your concerns, but we have a full squad to pick from, and we're going to go with the same team we've played the last two games.

Q. Have you made that decision having had a look at the pitch or have you not seen it yet?
BRENDON McCULLUM: No, but we've played a bit of cricket on this wicket recently and expect it to be the same. The guys have performed well so far. We want to give them the same opportunity again. We think that the balance of the team that we're going in with will suit us well on this ground.

Q. Do you see yourselves having much of a disadvantage having a relatively short turnaround compared to the England team?
BRENDON McCULLUM: We've been playing a lot of cricket recently, so we're probably in a little bit of a groove. Once this game has finished, we've got a decent break before the game against Australia and another big break after that. So we knew the scheduling well before we came into it so we were able to affect that into our preparation as well. So we go on with no excuses. We'll give ourselves a good chance, and hopefully we can replicate the form we've been playing with of late.

Q. When you look at England's bowling attack, how would you rate them given you're reasonably familiar with a lot of the guys and their bowling attack?
BRENDON McCULLUM: I think they have a good bowling attack. They have a bit of pace and they get some bounce with Broad and Anderson. So they're going to post some different challenges to what we've probably faced in the last little while, but it's a challenge the boys are looking forward to. The wicket at Wellington only has a few runs in it too, so hopefully we can, I guess, adapt ourselves nicely and still perform a similar blueprint that we've been able to operate with the last 12 to 18 months. So if we can do that, we'll give ourselves a good chance in this game.

Q. I guess there is plenty of talk about you guys being the favourite. Is that a tag that sits well with you?
BRENDON McCULLUM: It's kind of irrelevant, I think, the tag. We're the favourites, we're the underdogs, once you get out on the pitch you start on an even keel. So we're just trying to go about our work. I think we've been able to handle some of the expectation which has risen recently because of our calmness within the group. We know that we can't get too far in front of ourselves. We're not a good enough team to do so. We need to be very respectful of that, go about our preparation and go about our work and try to execute our game plan. If we do that, that's certainly how we give ourselves our greatest opportunity.

Q. Do you have an idea of whether you'd like to bat or bowltomorrow, an ideal world?
BRENDON McCULLUM: I'm not sure. It will probably depend on the heat conditions it tends to swing a little bit. There is some cloud cover in Wellington, so we'll wait and reserve that untiltomorrowafternoon.

Q. What have you taken out of the batting efforts against Scotland? It was a bit patchy wasn't it?
BRENDON McCULLUM: It was a little bit patchy. I guess that can sometimes, when you're chasing a small total and you've also got a bit of a break for that lunch as well, you've got to have a small batting session before the lunch. It can be a little bit unsettling. But I think the guys have been performing really well as a batting group of late. We still got the job done the other day, while the it was a little untidy. To win inside 20 overs is something that we're pretty happy with at the end. It would have been nice to have done it three or four down, but that wasn't the case. And credit to Scotland as well. I thought they bowled well on the wicket, and the pitch probably suited them as well in terms of their bowlers. So we can certainly improve from that. There is no doubting that it wasn't our finest batting performance. But at the same time we're able to get the job done. We go intomorrowand we know what works for us, and we'll try to go about executing that.

Q. You go in with the same approach that you've done or established pretty much throughout the summer or do you tweak things a little bit depending on the opposition?
BRENDON McCULLUM: I still think we've got to go in with the same approach. The blueprint that we have been able to play with of late, we know it works for us. Obviously trying to be reasonably aggressive early on. We've got some quality craft players at 3, 4, and 5, and we've got some power followers. So it depends if you lose early wickets, then that can affect you how you go about constructing innings. But overall I think the blueprint is pretty set for us, and it's just a matter of how we should step up and perform against a different opposition. We've certainly done our research and played these guys a few times of late, so we know what they'll throw at us. So it's just a matter of how we step up on the day.

Q. A little over not too long ago Trent Boult was struggling to be first choice over your limited overs attack, and now he's right there. What have you noticed in terms of how he's improved his limited over bowling skills?
BRENDON McCULLUM: I guess it was a little bit circumstantial as well, because Trent was operating in our test lineup. The sheer volume of cricket that we're playing as well, we weren't necessarily able to give him the opportunities which we would have liked to with the white ball as well. Other guys were standing up and performing well. So I guess you throw that in the mix and that's probably why he didn't get a great deal of opportunities. But the way that he's stepped up and performed the role for us so far, him and Southee together are a very dangerous opening partnership, and they feed off one another too. So I think if you're a good bowler in Test Cricket, you can certainly be a good bowler in One Day Cricket as well. So that's what we've seen with Trent and his ability to swing the ball. The two new balls I think helps too. So he's really developing nicely as one of our strike weapons at the start. He'll face some challenges over the next little while as well with opposition teams. We'll try to be more aggressive against them, but I think he's got the skills to be able to overcome that, and he's a nice, level-headed guy that gets in the competition too. So I'm still confident he'll be able to do a good job for us even if he is under pressure at times.

Q. You've won 9 of the last 11 at the stadium. How much does local knowledge actually play a part, and it looks like a full housetomorrow. What kind of affect will that play for you too?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, it's going to be pretty cool. It's great when you know you've been playing good cricket. The people are getting right in behind you and the boys thrive off of that to be able to play in front of 30,000 at a ground which even when you have 5,000 or 6,000 it can be quite loud. So it's going to be a great atmosphere. Again, I'm confident the guys will still be able to go about our work and try to perform their roles. We are familiar with these conditions. They can be a little bit, I guess different. If it does cloud over, then obviously you need to bowl in terms of the lengths as well, and we learned a good lesson against Sri Lanka in what we needed to do, and I thought we were able to make good adjustments come the Pakistan game and we obviously got some success in that. Sotomorrowwill be another challenge. Pretty quick assessment of what length we need to bowl. What is going to be the most dangerous link for us to try to generate wickets, and if we can do that, then, yeah, we'll certainly still try to execute that strategy of trying to take wickets early.

Q. And you know Morgan pretty well. He's under a bit of heat at the moment. Is that a bit awkward for you and difficult pre match? Have you had any contact with him lately?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, I caught up with him last night. He's a champion player. He's one of my better mates from around the world in terms of cricket. He's going through a bit of a tough time at the moment, but tough times don't last, but tough blokes do. So hopefully at some point he'll come out of it. Hopefullytomorrowwe're able to keep him quiet. But I'm very confident at some point he'll bounce out of it because he's a quality player and a tough bloke too.

Q. I imagine you were able to offer empathy rather than sympathy, were you?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, we didn't talk too much about it, to be honest. There will come a time where we'll sit down and be able to chew the fat over a number of different situations we've both faced over the last sort of while. But it was good to catch up with him. Good to reconnect, I guess, and, yeah, when we get on the fieldtomorrowwe'll certainly be going hard at each other. But he's a good fellow.

Q. The fact that a few individuals came out necessarily in great form. They have a bit of a rough trot of late. Getting a bit of pressure from a few guys in this room. Does that matter to you guys? You're sitting there sharpening your knives? I imagine you read some of the very articles that we do.
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, you're obviously aware of that. But I've got match winners, I've said right from the outset of this tournament. The wickets we play on allow match winners to come into play. Even though a team may not be firing of late, it's still a dangerous proposition. We speak for that. We know that we aren't good enough to take any team for granted, so the focus has very much been on us. We've done our research on the option, and tried to factor in some game plans, but ultimately it's about how we get ourselves into the best State that we can perform. Looks like a good enough tune-up on the day and we play our best game and they still beat us, fair play to them. But the essential thing for us is tuning up and delivering our best again.

Q. Can you talk to some of those match winners we all obviously know that there are some very handy players and in 2013 across various games you sort of experienced different players at different times really show what they're capable of. Can you just talk to those specific match winners they have in their ranks?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Well, I think Morgs is definitely a match winner. His uncanny ability in different areas and he sees opportunities. I think Jos Buttler is obviously a dangerous player. They have quality players at the top of the order as well, and they have some bowlers who have been around for a long time and had a lot of success across all forms of the game. So you look at their team on paper, and it's a very strong side. We've obviously struggled recently, but it doesn't mean they're not quality players. Yeah, as I said, our focus has to remain on our game, but be aware that they have some dangerous players, and we get ourselves in a position where we can be in control of the game and we need to insure that we close the game out as well. But to be able to do that, you've got to earn the right too, and that's through some hard work early on with a bat or ball. So that's a good challenge for us in the next game.

Q. Just from your experience as captain, how important is it that the captain leads from the front and leads by example with performances on the field?
BRENDON McCULLUM: I think ultimately over a period of time it's definitely important. But the hardest time and the most important time to lead from a captain's point of view is when you're probably struggling a little bit with your own form too because that's when guys are looking to you to see whether you still have it in you to be able to, I guess, think about the team and the team game plan and driving the teammates forward. That's the hardest time but also the most rewarding when you do come out the other side of it. I'm sure what Morgs said at the moment, knowing him as I do, he'll be very much still focusing on the team, albeit wanting to get his own performance. It is tough, but it's the game that we play too. It throws up different challenges, and it brings out different traits in people as well, and it's where you learn a lot about yourself when times are tough. That's why when things are going good, you don't want to get too far in front of yourself because you know what the other side of the coin is like.

Q. In the recent games that you've played against England, obviously, the captain would have been Alastair Cook. What difference do you think having Eoin in charge of the side will make in the way you play against England and the way they take you on?
BRENDON McCULLUM: Yeah, that's a good question. I guess probably not totally sure there. I think Cook's obviously very meticulous in the way he goes about his own game, and they're all probably very structured under Cookie as well. It's probably a little bit more of a maverick streak to someone like Morgs. So that, again, throws up different challenges from an opposition's point of view. They're probably still just searching a little bit for their exact style of play, but as we've discussed, match winners can quickly seize those opportunities for them as well. So, yeah, it's going to be an interesting game for us. We need to stand up and perform in this game, get ourselves a really strong position in this tournament and we can enjoy a decent break after.

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