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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUPMarch 3, 2015Hashim AmlaAB de VilliersCANBERRA, AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Q. AB, could you have possibly ticked more boxes out of today's victory? AB de VILLIERS: Look, I'm very happy with the performance. Ireland, they're a tricky team to play. I think they've taken a lot of confidence from the good start they had in this World Cup, and I think we paid them all the respect that they deserved, which probably helped us to perform a bit better today. It's very easy to underestimate a team like that, and I thought the guys stuck to their guns really well. We started off exceptionally well with a great partnership between Faf and Hash. When you get a partnership of 200 plus in ODI, you're always going to get yourself into good position as a batting unit, and we found ourselves in a great position going into the last 15 overs, which gave us a lot of freedom to express ourselves. We ticked a lot of boxes today. You can never be exceptionally happy with your performance, I'm just very happy with the way we did the basics well today and stuck to playing a tight game of cricket. Q. South Africa have scored over 400 three times this year already, and it seems as though it's something you guys are almost getting quite good at and you know how to do it. What's the difference between a total of 300 and pushing on past that? How would you say you've formed those types of innings? AB de VILLIERS: Well, you've got to read the situation really well. You can't just play positive cricket for 50 overs and go hard at everything you get. I think our strength isn't reading the situation well, we have got a lot of mature players on the side. What pleases me about our batting at the moment is we do it our way. We're not trying to follow unique strategies or someone else's strategies. We stick to our game plans and what we believe works for us. That really makes me very happy as a captain, to see the guys really follow our game plans and sticking to that. If you read the situation well, they set it up nicely for whenever you feel the right time is to take a bit of momentum and run with it. You're going to get 300 plus more often than not. Q. Just with J.P. and Vernon still to come back from injury, when you see guys like Rilee Rossouw again tonight and Kyle Abbott, does that make you really happy? Is that good problems to have when it comes to selections? Do you want all the guys to put their hands up? AB de VILLIERS: Absolutely, yes. To have as many guys in good form as possible in a tournament like this is key. We've got a few players now, fringe players and players in the side that are doing really well that show that they're in good form. It is a great problem to have, no doubt about that, yeah. Q. I just wanted you to talk a bit more about Kyle Abbott because he's come into the last two games and he's been outstanding against the West Indies and especially with the new ball. AB de VILLIERS: Yeah, he's played a lot of cricket domestically. He's a very experienced campaigner, and he shows that he plays with his heart on his sleeve. He's got a lot of passion for the game, a lot of passion for the team. He's always one of those guys that when he's in the side, you know what you're going to get from him. You're going to get 100 percent commitment. You know he's going to follow the game plans that you put out there for him to follow, and a very easy guy to captain. So the way he's bowled has pleased me a lot. No one is guaranteed of a spot, though, moving forward, and we'll have to get the balance right for the next game. We'll assess whatever conditions and whatever team we play against and pick the best possible 11 in order for us to win games of cricket. Q. AB, obviously yourself in pretty good nick, Hashim obviously, as well, the bowlers firing. Do you feel like you've got the firepower to go on and win the comp now? AB de VILLIERS: I don't feel like it now. I felt like it for the last year to be very honest with you. The confidence is still there and the belief is still there. We know we've got a very long way to go, though. There's a lot of cricket to be played. Look, it's been said so many times that we're one of the favorites to win this tournament, and deep down inside we know we can. That's not the problem. The problem is that we're going to have to take it one game at a time, and that's Pakistan in Auckland, our next game, hoping to deliver another performance like we had in the last few games and get some more confidence behind us. But for now we wouldn't like to touch on the final and games coming up in the far future. We like to focus on the near future. Q. You guys have played four matches now and obviously the tournament is progressing. Sunday's match, Australia against Sri Lanka, I'm sure you guys will be keeping a keen eye on that because it could be permutations going forward? AB de VILLIERS: Yeah, look, it's a difficult question to answer that because I've encouraged the boys not to watch a lot of cricket, other cricket. I'd like to focus on our own game. I like to focus on what we're doing well as a team. I'd still like to think that we're going to play any team in the quarterfinals. Look, it's not impossible for us to finish on top of the lock. That's still a goal of ours. Once again, we're just going to focus on playing Pakistan in Auckland and not worry about what happens in other games. Once we get to the quarterfinals we'll tackle whatever obstacle comes our way and give it our best shot. Q. Does the amount of focus and the amount of headaches as opposed that you, AB, are causing opposition captains in recent matches, do you think that is helping the other guys in the lineup to get a bit more of a freehand, I suppose, and bat without maybe quite as much attention being paid to them as to you? AB de VILLIERS: I don't think so. Look, we feed off each other. The other day I said in Sydney that I got a lot of energy from a guy like Rilee who's a youngster and who hasn't really shown at this level what he's capable of, except for now in the last few games. But I fed off him in that game. There's no real -- Hash and I are the guys that run the batting lineup. We all feed off each other. There's a few guys that get a bit of momentum behind them, the other guy will follow and get energy from that. We sitting on the side get a lot of energy watching Hash play, Faf play with the way he played today, and everyone gets energy and confidence from watching each other play, and that's what a batting unit is all about, to really work together, to go in the same direction, and you see everyone walking out there with confidence because we gel together as a unit. Q. AB, Dale's form might have been a concern for people looking at it from the outside. How have you felt he's bowled thus far in the tournament? Do you see an upward curve, and is there a sense that something big is waiting to happen with him? AB de VILLIERS: I've got no worries about Dale at all. I've got full faith in the fact that he's going to win us a couple of crucial games in this tournament. I know that. So there's no worry there. I just want him to stay in his zone to really keep working hard on his game, to know that we back him 100 percent. I haven't seen any bad form at all. I think he runs in with a lot of energy, intensity. He bowled with pace again tonight against a team that it's very easy to sort of sit back and go, I don't really have to give it all my all here, we just have to relax; we've got 400 on the board. I didn't see any of that. He ran everything 140 plus. He gave it his all again. I believe he's still in great form, and I know he's going to win us a couple of games, it's just a matter of time. Q. AB, I think that was the first time an associate team had scored 200 against you. Were you impressed by Ireland's resistance or disappointed you couldn't finish them off earlier? AB de VILLIERS: I said in the post-match presser interview there that I've been very impressed with the way they've improved as a cricket team. I've played against them in three World Cups now, and every time I've seen a hell of an improvement in their skill and the way they play the game. Very impressed. They started the tournament off with a bang. Still have a good chance of making that quarterfinals, which will be massive for them as a cricketing nation. Yeah, look, we played the best possible cricket that we could have done today, and I was pretty happy with that performance. I wouldn't say that them getting more than 200 disappointed me. Q. AB, we know you're in the runs, seemingly now in the wickets. What was it like having the ball today? AB de VILLIERS: I enjoyed it, thank you. I enjoyed batting a bounce or two, as well, just showing the batters how to get it up, hit it out. It was very enjoyable. I'd like to think that it's something that could come in handy in one of the games in the World Cup. I won't bowl every game, but it might just come in handy, especially when we play seven batters. Q. Hashim, from a local perspective could you give us a bit of an opinion on the Manuka Oval and what it's like for international cricket? HASHIM AMLA: Yeah, listen, I think it's a wonderful oval. The two games that we've played here, fortunately we've had -- I know we lost against Australia but it was pretty much a high-scoring game and the outfield is really quick and you've got a good atmosphere here, so I think it's a wonderful stadium. Q. Hashim, your one-day career got started quite a while after your test debut. Is there a sense of making up for lost time? HASHIM AMLA: No, not at all. Every ODI you play or test match or T20 is actually just a privilege, so it's not a matter of making up any time or anything like that. It's just to try and excel in each game. Q. Hashim, I'm interested in what AB was talking about, judging a 50 over innings and making a big score. What determines for you when you start to accelerate? Is it when you get to 100 or is it more subtle than that? HASHIM AMLA: No, I think it depends on -- AB quite often speaks about the flow of the game. Today myself and Faf had a partnership going and we were pretty much settled in a partnership, and we felt that maybe this is the time to just get a little momentum going, and we decided and we went with it. There's no set formula when you decide to go. Any other day we could have tried it and we could have got out, but the benefit of that was we had a long batting lineup, and the guy coming in would have had base to build an innings and get some runs. So he's got to try and weigh the pros and the cons. But today was a day that kind of worked in our favour, but it doesn't always go that way. Q. Hashim, just with your high standards you probably had a slow start to the tournaments. Are you just finding your rhythm now and the pace of the wickets in Australasia? HASHIM AMLA: Yeah, you'd like to score runs every game, but I don't think that's quite possible unless you're Don Bradman or AB de Villiers. We try and cash in wherever we can and get some runs. You're always going to score runs in big games, and even when you play against kind of the lower ranked teams, you've still got to try and put a performance in, and no matter what it's an international game, and to put the team in a good position is the ultimate goal, and thankfully myself and Faf got to do that. Q. Hashim, it seems like that you've got a few more attacking strokes that you play, that you've added to your repertoire. Would you say that's come about from playing a little bit more Twenty20 cricket? HASHIM AMLA: No, I don't think it's come from T20. It's just playing a few shots in the nets, putting some work under your belt. You never know things like that come in handy, as we saw today, and as it was in general scores in this World Cup and perhaps in world cricket has gone up a bit, so you just never know when you may need to accelerate. Q. Hashim, just opening with Quinton De Kock, he's such a talent and is struggling for runs at the moment, but just your view, do you think that'll be short lived, that he'll be scoring runs soon? HASHIM AMLA: Without a doubt. Quinny is an unbelievably talented and hard-working player. Not many people see the amount of effort he puts in the nets. Everybody, myself, AB, everybody goes through a few games where you don't get runs, and I've always seen it as a silver lining because we all know that he's due runs, and I suppose on a personal level for him, when he does score runs he'll appreciate it a lot more. Everything has a benefit to it, and the fact that he's not getting runs and he's still managing to get some good totals on the board, I think it's a nice situation to be in, and I'm sure and I know all have subtle beliefs that he'll come good. Q. Which stroke did you enjoy the most today, or was there like a passage of play that you really enjoyed being part of? HASHIM AMLA: Yeah, there was a nick for four. That's probably my favourite shot, so I'll keep that as the least effort with a bit of reward, so that's okay. Q. Hashim, what sort of went through your mind when you clubbed that one straight to the guy at short mid wicket, and did you sort of come here inspired by Chris Gayle because you played a fairly similar innings to him today? HASHIM AMLA: Chris Gayle will probably score 300 in the one-dayers pretty soon. He's an amazing player. When I hit that ball today, I actually thought it was on the ground, but I think the nature of the wicket was a bit slow, and I was quite surprised that it was in the air, but that's how it goes. I hit it pretty well and I think that made it difficult for the guy to catch it. Q. Hashim, you are very supportive of your fellow opener there who was scratching for runs a bit, but he almost scratched a couple of teeth out of your mouth. It must have been frightening when it was coming to you? HASHIM AMLA: Yeah, it was. I think there's always a danger at first slip, it's happened a couple of times where a person diving across, you kind of take your head away and you don't know what's going to happen, and the best possible result happened today. The ball got stuck in my arm somewhere. But I was just grateful it didn't hit me in the face or teeth. That could have been a lot worse. Q. Hashim, was Adrian Birrell a particular help for you and for the team in general with his preparation, his experience from Ireland? HASHIM AMLA: Well, I suppose Adrian Birrell is always an assistant, no matter who we play, and the fact that he's coached Ireland before, he had a little bit of insight, but no matter how much information you get, at the end of the day, a good ball could get you out, so he did assist without a doubt, but we've still got to go out in the middle and try to do the job. Adie, no matter what, without a doubt, he's one of those guys, who every game we play, he gives it 100 percent commitment and input as much as possible. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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