|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ICC CRICKET WORLD CUPFebruary 28, 2015Michael ClarkeAUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND Q. What was the logic behind giving Mitchell Johnson the ball as the match was getting closer when Starc was actually bowling really well? MICHAEL CLARKE: Well, it's pretty tough to bowl 10 over spill, so it's more to give Mitch 2 overs off. He was bowling beautifully, and I knew we could find another way to get a breakthrough. I thought Mitch would have a huge opportunity to try to go through the tail as he just about did. Good decision? Q. (Indiscernible)? MICHAEL CLARKE: Correct. Q. Does the New Zealand batting make you feel any better about the way your guys batted? Because in isolation, that looked pretty abject? MICHAEL CLARKE: Not really. We were extremely poor, there is no doubt about that. I think credit needs to go to New Zealand bowlers. They bowled really well. They swung the ball nicely and bowled good areas, but our shot selection was very poor, and I thought our defense more than anything else was an area that was a lot poorer than we would have liked. I think sometimes you can get caught up in 20 Twenty cricket and up with day cricket working on the power side of your game. I don't think we've had too many sessions where we've worked on the side of our innings and defending a brand-new ball or a swinging ball, so that is an area that we can certainly focus on moving forward. Because I think you face conditions like that all around the world, not just here in New Zealand. And I think you'll see the ball will still swing at the whacker in the next game with experience plenty of time in Brisbane, and even the MCG these days and the SCG. So I think moving forward the balls are going to swing and we've got work to do with the bat. That's for sure. Q. Despite what you've just heard about your batting, can you give a sense of what you felt at the start of New Zealand's innings, and more particularly when you got Ross Taylor out three down? Can you give us a sense if you had a chance and you bowled well you were right in it? MICHAEL CLARKE: I felt that from the start to be honest. Our batting was extremely poor. I made it clear to the boys that I thought we had enough runs, and I think you have to do that certainly as captain of the team. You have to back your bowlers. We've got a fantastic attack. All the guys have individual skill and talent, there is no doubt about it. And I think you've seen a good glimpse of that with the way Starcy bowled today. The class of Mitchell Johnson and you've seen obviously the start and the class of Pat Cummins in his short career as well. So the faith was there, there was no doubt about it. And we just had to execute. I think we did. Even to get brandan out, is the way Brendon's playing at the moment, to get him out for 50, I think we found a way to change our plans halfway through the innings and found a way to get him out. But I think Mitchell Starc to me was a standout today. That individual performance was as good as you'll see in any form of the game. Good pace, good swing, and most importantly very good execution. Q. With the batting was the two-way break any factor in terms of rustiness among the batter or was it shot selection as such? MICHAEL CLARKE: I think it was more shot selection and probably being in a rush as well. Thinking we will to score a lot more runs than we did. That type of wicket with the ball swinging, I think you have to give yourself more opportunity at the start of your innings and try to catch up later at the end. Q. How would you judge your own performance in your comeback game? I believe it would be overshadowed by Vince here, but how would you judge? MICHAEL CLARKE: I'd like some more runs. I'm no different from the other top six batters. We were disappointing today, and my shot selection was poor. Especially at that time, we lost 3 for 2 I think. Q. Is the challenge now that you go to Perth which is going to be vastly different conditions and back to the city in a short turn around. Is it adjusting to conditions an issue? Is that an issue here? Does that loom as another issue? MICHAEL CLARKE: I don't think so. I think we gave ourselves enough time in regards of preparation and we've been in New Zealand for a week. Conditions are different in Perth, but we played a fair bit of cricket there as a team, and we know Sydney pretty well. The toughest part of the next few games for us is the flying time, I think. We've got eight and a half hours travel time to Perth tomorrow and another five hours back to Sydney. So recovery is going to be the key. We can talk about our performance today. Every batter certainly knows what we all feel. We'll have time to train in Perth and we'll have time to train in Sydney, so plenty of time to get our work done, but it's about being smart with our recovery and making sure everyone's fit and healthy and ready to play after a couple of long flights. Q. (Indiscernible)? MICHAEL CLARKE: Hope so. Selectors haven't picked the team, but I would hope -- yeah, I don't think it will be from the flight that we don't play. Maybe not making enough runs. Q. 434 playing 438 at the one-dayer has been called the greatest One Dayers ever. But sometimes games like this where it's 150 and you have to scrap for every run, do these games mean more to you? MICHAEL CLARKE: Winning means more to me than losing, and we've lost both. I think it's entertaining cricket, no doubt about it. You've probably seen two aggressive teams. Both with bat and ball. Probably too aggressive with the bat. Both teams didn't perform as well as we'd have liked. But you've seen good swing bowling at good pace today and pretty aggressive fields. So. I think for me today, it was about trying to win the game. We knew we had to bowl New Zealand out if we were going to win the game. It wasn't about runs for me. It was about trying to bowl them out, hence the field placements I had. I think both of those, I've been involved in both of those games and both are pretty entertaining, but like I said, we lost both of them. But I'd like to be on the other side of winning, whether that's making 150 in winning or 130 in winning. Q. Taking a glass half full view, is it a handy thing to have that performance and have this feeling as opposed to in a quarterfinal or semifinal? MICHAEL CLARKE: I don't think there is ever a good time to bat the way we batted. The advantage we have now is we're not knocked out of the tournament. We have room and time to improve our game. But against the best opposition, tough play better than that, there is no doubt about it. I don't think it's necessarily not the end of the world for us. We need to respect the way New Zealand bowled and understand that they bowled really well. Look at our own games individually and get the work done to make sure we're well prepared for the next challenge in Perth. But I still think that a really strong squad, I'm still confident we can come out and play our best cricket and turn this around quickly. Q. Given that both of New Zealand and Australia are considered favorites in this World Cup, do you feel that it's with certain frailties in the New Zealand batting lineup that you could take advantage of if you were to meet them again in this World Cup, which it looks like you might? MICHAEL CLARKE: I think I probably don't have to worry about that right now. I think our focus has to be on our next game in Perth. If we happen to come up against New Zealand, we'll be as well prepared as any other team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|