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ICC WOMEN'S WORLD T20

November 17, 2018

Meg Lanning

Georgetown, Guyana

India - 167/8, Australia - 119-all out

Q: Any update on Alyssa Healy's injury?

MEG LANNING: She's got a mild concussion. So obviously we'll treat that carefully and monitor that over the next few days. But hopefully she's all right for us come semifinals time.

Q. Is she in doubt for the semifinals, like, do you know?
MEG LANNING: I've got no idea. I haven't spoken to the doctor or anything like that. Obviously we're just worried for her welfare. But she's just got a mild concussion. So hopefully she comes up. And we're hoping she does.

Q. Was she up and about and still sitting around and everything; how was she?
MEG LANNING: Yeah, she was down on the bench there towards the ends of the batting innings. She wanted to bat, but we were just playing that smart. Hopefully she's good to go.

Q. How much of an effect did that have, like, on you, her not batting, and the line, how did you decide she was going to open and how did that all lay out?
MEG LANNING: Yeah, we do have seven or eight openers in our team. So that sort of didn't bother us too much. I guess we've got people who have done that route before. She's been in great form. So it was a loss, I guess, but we've got to be able to adapt to situations like that. I don't think it had an impact on how we played. We were able to adjust to that, but we just weren't able to get going with the bat, unfortunately.

Q. What do you think went wrong with the bat there? It just seemed like Smriti and Harmanpreet were able to score really freely but it didn't seem like any of the Aussie batters had that same -- were able to score as freely out there?
MEG LANNING: Yeah, I think that's a good point. I think we found the field a lot. And we had too many dropped balls and we were playing big shots, which led to wickets. So India showed that it was a really good batting wicket if you played good cricket shots.

We just never got going. The powerplay, we didn't really get off to that flyer. And then myself, I kept hitting the ball to the fielder, and then played a big shot and got out. And I think that happened a fair bit throughout the innings. When you're chasing 170, you need to be scoring off as many balls as you can and building those big partnerships, which we weren't able to do.

Q. What did you make of that total from India? Did you think it was chasable?
MEG LANNING: We did. We thought 160, 164 was about par. We thought we would be chasing 200 at one point. We were pleased to bring them back. We know we'll have to chase totals like that if we want to win this World Cup. It was a challenge for us. And we weren't up to it today.

But I think there's a lot we can learn from it. We've got the power there to do it, but we just need to be a little more crafty about how we go about it and make sure we're building those big partnerships and not letting those wickets fall too often.

Q. You seem surprisingly upbeat. What was the message to the players after?
MEG LANNING: Just, it's a good opportunity to learn and see what we need to do moving forward. We know that we've got the team here to win. But we need to put it out of the park and perform under pressure. And India put us under pressure today. And I thought the bowlers did a reasonable job in keeping them to that score.

But, as I said, if we're going to win this World Cup, we'll have to chase the score around that. So we're definitely going to have to learn from this, which our group has done really well over the last year or so. So I'm very confident that we'll bounce back.

Q. How is it as a bowling unit to plan when you have a player like Mandhana playing the way she did today?
MEG LANNING: We planned a fair bit for India. Obviously they've got some dangerous players. And Mandhana played extremely well today, as did Kaur. We had some plans coming in. But as a way, you've got to adjust as you go along with the conditions. It was very windy out there today, you have to adjust to that as well. She's an excellent player and when she gets going, definitely difficult to stop.

Q. Going into the semifinal, is there any concern against the spin?
MEG LANNING: Heading into the semi? I don't think so. We've faced a lot of spin over the past few months with Pakistan. They had a lot of spinners in here as well. We feel our plans are good hitting. And I think most of it today was our execution. We put pressure on ourselves by hitting the fielders a lot, and forced ourselves into playing big shots. Whereas, I think if we can keep the scoreboard ticking a little bit more, we can be a little more composed with our big shots that we do play.

Q. I know it's hard to compare formats, but looking at the bowling from, say, compared to that semi in Darby, last year, you spoke a lot about resilience after that and being able to adapt. Do you think that the bowling group adapted better today than back then?
MEG LANNING: I think we did. We were staying relatively calm out there knowing that India would come hard at us and they would have the momentum at some point. I thought we were able to hold them back pretty well.

As I said, I think that was probably just above par, because it was a very good wicket. So we've definitely made some good strides in that area. We can always keep improving. It's hard when you're under pressure from the opposition in this format to try and stay cool and calm. But I thought we did that relatively well. But we're going to have to do that heading into the semis as well.

Q. What was the thinking behind Vlaeminck coming in for Wareham today?
MEG LANNING: We just thought a little of pace up front would be more effective. I thought she bowled pretty well. We didn't get the rewards with the wicket. But she's an exciting prospect. And she's been keeping us on our toes in the nets. We thought we'd unleash her today. She's a wicket-taker for us. And that's what we brought her here for. We thought it was a good opportunity to bring her out there. And it didn't come off today, but I think it was a good selection.

Q. Did you get a good glimpse of the catch?
MEG LANNING: Yeah, it was a cover. She does have Go Go Gadget arms, very hyper mobile. She used all of that to get that. But it was an incredible catch and an important one as well. We've been working a lot on our fielding, especially catching over here. So it's nice to see that come off.

Q. Before Alyssa got injured, any concerns with the wicket-keeping, the number of wides, and number of extras?
MEG LANNING: Yeah, I didn't really notice them too much. I was probably concentrating on other things. But in T20 cricket you probably want to limit the extras as much as you can.

I'm not sure what the stats were on that. But it's something we pride ourselves on as a bowling limit, to try to limit those. In big games you don't want to give too many extra balls for batters to hit. So it's something that we can improve on as well.

Q. You played in here six months ago. What difference do you see in the side you played then and the side you played today?
MEG LANNING: They've brought in a few different players that we didn't play against in March. And they're playing with a lot of confidence. And they come out and take the game on straightaway. And we expected that. That wasn't anything we didn't think would happen.

But they've got world-class players, Kaur, Mandhana. When they get going, it's very hard to stop. It's exciting for the game. It was exciting to be involved in the game today. But we're looking forward to improving and hopefully we can get the job done in the semis.

Q. What's the process of the team after this? Do you spend a lot of time analysing a loss like this, or do you just try to put it behind you and look ahead at the semifinal?
MEG LANNING: We'll review it as we do every game. We have the same process in place. We like to keep it the same, whether it is a win or a loss. I think that's really important.

We'll look at what we need to improve on, absolutely. It's important that we do learn from the game today. But I think there's still some positives to come out of it. And we've been playing some good cricket along the way. We'll need to tidy up a few things. But the group's confident. And hopefully we can learn from the game today and make sure we're improving for the semi.

Q. You, yourself, as leader of this team, you've been one of the most prolific run getters in the 50 overs and T20 for Australia, after you came back from injury. How has your fitness? We haven't seen you really explode and take on the opposition and be your natural self that we've seen over the years.
MEG LANNING: Yeah, I'm good to go. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm disappointed to not have scored as many runs as I would have liked in this tournament, especially in sort of the big games. So, look, I feel like I'm hitting the ball well.

I felt like I was hitting the ball well out there today. Hit a fielder a few too many times. T20 cricket, I guess that's the way it goes. But I have been disappointed with how I've been going personally and will definitely need to step it up for the semi. We need all our senior players playing well. And definitely looking to do that.

Q. The conditions here in Guyana, is it too hot for your team?
MEG LANNING: No, no, it's not too hot. It's beautiful. We've enjoyed it. We spent three weeks in Malaysia before we came here and it was hot there. And it's hot in the Australian summer as well. So the conditions haven't played a part in anything that we've been involved in. We've loved it and we've enjoyed our time here in Guyana and looking forward to heading back to Antigua.

Q. The tournament, it seems as if Australia may play West Indies in the finals, what are your thoughts?
MEG LANNING: If we play West Indies?

Q. Yes.
MEG LANNING: I watched the game the other night. They've got a very dynamic team both with bat and ball and are very dangerous. If we do come up against them, it will be another challenge for our group and exciting game. There's no easy games from now on. Whoever we do play will be very challenging. And we know we're going to have to play well to win.

Q. Ellyse Perry was the only one who really got going today. What do you think she did differently to the top order?
MEG LANNING: I think she scored off a lot of balls that she faced. She hit the ball hard into the gap and got a lot of 2s. The key is, I guess, not too get too boundary focussed and try to do that every ball. And I thought she did that really well. Picked her spots and the balls to go after and was really composed about it.

Look, she's been waiting for her bat for a little while. I thought she did well today. I think there's a bit we can learn from how she went about her innings because she looked very calm but at the same time being smart with how she went about it.

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