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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

March 12, 2015

Paul Farbace

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES

Q. What's it been like for you the last couple of days? You got the job as assistant coach, and that is a big thing for you, but to go through this and help raise a team, what's that been like for you personally, and how would you describe the mood at the moment?
PAUL FARBRACE: It's not been good. The last two days have been pretty ordinary, really. We've all felt the huge disappointment. We came here wanting to give it a go and really play some exciting cricket, and we haven't done that. I'm not sure that we've really recovered from the first two games in the tournament. We got blown away in the first two games, and I don't think we've really recovered from that. There has been a lot said about, perhaps our nervousness, and the tension that we're playing with. I think it's hard to argue against that. I think that's been the biggest disappointment over the last couple of days is thinking about what might have been. We've seen glimpses. We've seen bits of, but glimpses and bits of are not enough to get you through to the next stage and get you to where you want to be as a team. I think we've got to be honest enough to say that, and we can have no complaints about some of the stick that we've taken, because it just hasn't been good enough.

Q. What about the challenge that you've been part of to recover from this? Obviously not just this game, but the future you've got towards the West Indies coming up. English One Day cricket is really under the microscope now. How do you recover from this? How do you go about that job?
PAUL FARBRACE: I think the first thing, obviously, we've got to find a way to get ourselves in position to play well tomorrow and win the game tomorrow. That is obviously the first thing. Practice yesterday was a bit subdued. It wasn't as good as it perhaps has been, and that isn't for anything other than the boys are still hurting from the other night, and there is huge disappointment. So today's practice has got to be about lifting that and making sure that we come tomorrow with a really clear mind and there is one focus and that is to win tomorrow's game. Then there will be lots of discussions and debates and chats about how we move forward and what the next step is. Obviously, we have the Caribbean series where there will be one of two changes, of course. Could be people like that that come back into it, so therefore we've got a chance to move forward. We made good progress with Test Cricket with the Indian series last year, and we've got to keep building on that. One Day cricket is a completely different story, and we've got to make sure by the time we get to that New Zealand home series that we've got some very clear direction of where we're looking to get to.

Q. People's futures get talked about when there are setbacks like this. And Peter has said there is unfinished business. What about your appetite of trying to turn things around? Does it almost inspire you to show what you can really do as assistant coach?
PAUL FARBRACE: Definitely. It's unfair that Peter's the one who is in the limelight. He's the boss, he's in charge, and he's the head coach, so you know that goes with the territory. I've been on the good end of that. The last ICC tournament I left being head coach, and we won and all the adulation you take that. Of course you do. We're in this together as a team. We're all responsible. It's not just Pete. We're all responsible. Every single one of us got away being very disappointed. He's not on his own. We're all in this together. You win as a team, you lose as a team, and every single member of the coaching team has to share that responsibility with Pete. It's not him. He has the chance to move to the next stage of the World Cup. We're all in this together. There's been a lot said that you know, the stats and all this other stuff, and team meetings and whatever. With the Sri Lanka team, we have more team meetings, and we look to stats more than the England team currently do. There is no question about that. We had a team of six people working for us during the 20 Twenty World Cup last year with the Sri Lanka team in India, providing us with data straightaway after the game, and then the next morning, we then used to prepare and practice for our next game, and that's what won us the final. Our preparation from fantastic statistics that helped us to bowl in the right places for the last four overs and win that final. So we definitely used with Sri Lanka, we used more footage, more analysis than we certainly have done in this series with this England team. So that's what I think. But he accepts that. He knows that's what comes with the territory, doesn't he? We all know when you're working with your National Team and that's why we're drawn into working on a National Team, there is not awful lot of pride and you want to do a great job, but you know when the results are not right. You know what goes with it.

Q. I was going to ask you about stats. You've answered the question to an extent. But why is it England are not obsessed with stats? They come into a press conference and talk about data and being on TV and chasing 275, you've got to check the data. Why do you think the guys are saying those things? Because those comments stick, don't they?
PAUL FARBRACE: Absolutely. I can't answer for them. I can't say why they said that. We all know that in Wellington we bowled poorly. We don't need to look at anything. We know we bowled poorly. That's what cost us the game. We still felt that 309 or whatever it was a good score against Sri Lanka. They bowled well. We bowled poorly throughout. And that's where they say in terms of like the last game, up front we swung the ball, we pitched out, we created three good opportunities, tipped two of them to catches, and we bowled reasonably well which is something we haven't done. 275 is something we should have comfortably chased. We were in position at the start, but we can't seem to get there. And we haven't perked, and complete team performance together. That is the most disappointing aspect of it. You have to ask them too, but we're not spending hours and hours talking in team meetings about stats and numbers. We're not having team meetings. We don't do that. We allow people to look at footage. Everyone has footage on their iPad which is downloaded and it's up to them to look at it. Ian is someone who is very well-planned, and well-organized. We thought he could bloke, he wants to know how many net bowlers we've got. Will there be a left arm seamer, he probably looks at footage in detail. (Indiscernible) I'm not interested on what's on my iPad. We just want to go out and play. You praised him for that, and the way he played against Scotland, and he wanted to go in and strike the ball. So you have to cater for everybody. There are lots of different ways that people like to learn. In that sense, we have to make sure we provide everybody with what they need. It's entirely up to them whether they choose to look at it. As we say, we're not spending hours and hours in front of a white board. We're not spending hours and hours chewing over stats and numbers. We're encouraging people to go play the game. That is most disappointing thing that we just haven't gone and done what we've talked about and what we wanted to do. That's really, really frustrating. Look, for everyone concerned. As I said, the last couple of days has been a pretty tough place to be.

Q. From what you've seen of county cricket recently, do you think there are the exciting young One Day players in English game that can go and have an impact before 2019? And if they are, why aren't some of them here?
PAUL FARBRACE: I'm not sure. I thought about this for the last few days. I'm not sure there are too many players at the moment who could be here. Yes, Ben Stokes, fantastic, exciting talent, we all know that. And yes, Ben probably was unfortunate that he batted 8 and bowled. But we were so desperate to keep him on the team, that we were trying to find a way to keep him on the team. Now is one of those schools a stage where he got left out of the squad? You could argue there might be one or two batters out there that perhaps could have been here. But, again, that comes down to personal opinion. I still think the 15, we've got the right 15, and there is no doubt about that. There is now a fantastic opportunity for county cricketers to look and say this is my chance to make myself into a brilliant One Day cricketer, and really use the next couple of years to give myself the best chance to be a fantastic death bowler. To bowl brilliant yorkers, to be brilliant with the balls. And for batters to make sure they have a power game. Because the way One Day Cricket is going, you cannot make yourself into a powerful batter. You can go out, strike boundaries, clear the rope and play proper cricket shots. That is what we're talking about, strong, good cricket shots. We saw that, the other night when they played good, strong, positive cricket shots in that game. When we try to run it down, we're never in the game. And as they say, there is a fantastic opportunity now for players in county cricket to stick their hands up and say there are spaces in that team, and I'm going to take my opportunity. There has never been a better time, has there?

Q. You're clearly hurting along with everybody else. I just wonder, do you regret leaving Sri Lanka?
PAUL FARBRACE: No. The chance to work with your own National Team is too good an opportunity. I was excited about working with Molesy, and I still am. I'm looking forward to hopefully to an exciting future with a lot of very talented players.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
PAUL FARBRACE: Absolutely. I want to be in it.

Q. There's been talk of review after the World Cup. Do you think perhaps it will be time to use after this time after the World Cup to start fresh maybe and get rid of some of the players that might not have performed in this World Cup?
PAUL FARBRACE: That's something not for now. That is something that discussions, of course, will take place when you get back to England. But for now, I promise you, the only focus is trying to get us in a great position where we can win tomorrow's game. And tomorrow's game, if losing the other day to Bangladesh was terrible, we couldn't possibly measure what it would be like if it was against us because that would be horrendous. Our job now is to make sure we give ourselves the best chance, clear heads and go and play proper cricket tomorrow and hopefully play some cricket that we've said we wanted to play all the way through.
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