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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 9, 2019

Roddy Estwick

Southampton, England, UK

Q. Having watched South Africa lose their first three matches and you guys had a great start, how confident are you feeling playing a team that is quite down?
RODDY ESTWICK: We are obviously confident, but we have to respect South Africa as well. They are a good side. They have lost three games. We know they have got world-class players so we can't underestimate their ability and we have to go out and play hard and smart cricket and stick to our game plans.

Q. At the moment, although you lost the last game, you look like you are enjoying your cricket at the moment. It's a side that looks happy to be around eachother. Is that the overriding feeling in the West Indies camp at the moment?
RODDY ESTWICK: That is what we are trying to get over to the players, whatever you do you must try and enjoy it. It is very important, you are at the World Cup. It will be the last World Cup for a number of players so you have to go out and enjoy your cricket and let the process take care of itself and just think team in whatever we do and try and do our best.

And we are not going to pressure them whether we win or lose, we are just going to make sure we keep following the process and make sure we keep doing the right things.

Q. Obviously, last week the story broke about AB de Villiers making himself available for the tournament. How much of a distraction do you think that will be for South Africa? And what is your camp make of the story?
RODDY ESTWICK: Our camp haven't been talking about it at all. We can't control what happens in South African cricket. We can only control what happens in West Indies cricket. So we are not focusing on the AB de Villiers issue at all. We have to go and play. They have a number of world-class players: Hashim Amla, Rabada, the captain, Faf as well. We have to focus on them. We can't focus on people who are not here.

Q. Your bowlers have done a great job up front in both your games so far. Is it a little bit concerning though the way the second half of the innings went against Australia? And in what areas do you think the guys can improve to make sure that doesn't happen again?
RODDY ESTWICK: Before the start of the tournament, everybody was saying that teams are going to make 360, 380, some teams will make 400, some teams will make 500. We bowled both teams out for under 300 runs, so we are very happy with the way the bowlers have executed (their plans).

What we must do is play the one percenters a bit better and I'm sure if we did that in the last game, we would have won the game. It's nothing to do with the bowlers. We are all in it together. We are not going to single out the bowlers and say the bowlers did a poor job, or the batsmen did a poor job, it is a team. If you are looking for excuses in the cricket game, you can find it wherever you look.

Q. South Africa and West Indies haven't played each other too much between the World Cup and now, three games is what the records say. The West Indian team is different to what it was four years ago. What is your assessment of how the fast bowlers have gone? There is excitement around the fact that West Indies have these fast bowlers of real quality. What is your assessment of how they have gone and how do you see their role in the rest of the matches that you have in the World Cup?
RODDY ESTWICK: What is exciting about it is, we are playing our way, we are not looking at the other teams. We are playing what works for us. We are playing a West Indian way. We are playing a brand of aggressive cricket with a smile on our face. And if that will take us to the success that we are looking at, then that is very, very important.

We can't focus on what the other teams are doing, we can only focus on what we are doing and we have to do it well.

Q. Andre Russell looks like he's been carrying an injury, we didn't see much of him in training today. Is everything alright with him for tomorrow?
RODDY ESTWICK: Andre will be fine. Andre is a warrior, he is a soldier. He's a strong man mentally, you know, and he will be up for the game. He's been really good for us, you know. When we sat down and had our plans, we didn't expect him to bowl as much as he's been doing, but he's been brilliant, so no problems at all with Andre.

Q. A lot of people are comparing the fast-bowling group with the great teams of the '70s and '80s. They are starting to get a vibe about it. Do the bowling group embrace that and does it help with their confidence or do they try to ignore it a bit?
RODDY ESTWICK: We can't keep looking back. We have to respect the past, you know. Our great bowlers of the past obviously they are very important in our history. But what we've got now, this group of bowlers now, they have got to find their own identity. They have got to find their own way. They can speak to all the great ex-fast bowlers. I saw a few of them talking to Ian Bishop earlier. And I'm sure when Joel Garner and Michael Holding are in town they will be speaking to them.

Every West Indian is in this. This is big for the Caribbean people. One thing that we have been stressing is to go out and put a smile on the people's faces in the Caribbean. Obviously, economically we are struggling a little bit so we want people to wake up in the morning at 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock with a smile on their face, seeing West Indians playing good cricket.

And also we want to help the people in London as well, you know, who have had so much pressure cricket-wise in the last 10, 15 years and if we can put a smile on all black people's faces we will be very happy.

Q. Ottis Gibson was coach of the West Indies and he knows a lot of the guys. Do you speak about that, the fact that he knows a lot of the boys?
RODDY ESTWICK: Ottis is a West Indian and a Barbadian first and foremost. He is a professional, he is a professional coach and wherever his profession takes him he has to do his best. We will see him tomorrow and we will have a hug and a chat and after the game, we will have a drink.

And at the end of the day, it's cricket, it's a game of cricket. Everybody wants to win. You play it hard, you play it fair, and you enjoy what you are doing and once you do that you are on the right track.

Q. Roddy, you spoke about how despite what South Africa's going through you still must respect the opponent. Is there any specific part of their game now that you guys will go in targeting, or that you are especially wary of?
RODDY ESTWICK: We have to target 100 overs. At the end of the 100 overs, we have got to make sure that we are on the winning side.

We just can't single out one part of the game. Once you do that and that part of the game has any resistance, then your game plan falls down. We have a plan for 100 overs and we have to go and execute.

There are areas that we can still improve. We are looking to do better and we can still improve. We can cut down the extras in one or two areas. We have missed a few chances as well, so these are areas we can back up on. We are more focussed on ourselves and if we can execute our skills well, then it will take care of the process.

Q. Against Australia, the aggressive short ball worked really well up front. When the ball got a little older, some of the bouncers weren't getting around the throat. They were a bit easier to put away. Do you think you stuck with the bouncer too long? And is that something you are looking at addressing coming to this game?
RODDY ESTWICK: Let me ask you a question. If we said we will give Australia 280 and we didn't have to bowl, we would have taken it. We are nit-picking and looking for excuses. We didn't play the small moments well. It's nothing to do with the bowling at all.

If you can restrict Australia to 288... Like I said before, every team in this competition was gearing the game on scoring at six runs an over for the first 30 and then the last 20 trying to score at eight runs an over and try and get to 160 and we restrict Australia for 288 and we are looking for all the excuses in the world.

It is nothing to do with the bowling at all. I thought the bowlers did a wonderful job. Cricket is about partnerships and you will have resistance. Simple as that.

Q. It didn't look like Chris Gayle took much part in training. We saw him having a massage at one point as well. Is he fit for tomorrow? It's a case of managing him and Andre Russell?
RODDY ESTWICK: We have to manage all the players. It's a very long tournament. Remember it's nine games spread over six weeks and the games are coming thick and fast so you have to manage everybody. The bowlers had a very light bowl today, 18 balls. So it is all about managing.

If we manage the players, you have to keep them fit and ready for the game. You are not going to achieve a lot now going into the next session. The thing about it is that your body and mind is strong and you are ready to execute so Chris is Chris. He's got years of experience. He will know what he needs to do to come out tomorrow and execute.

Q. Ottis has spoken quite openly about the South African approach and their bowling attack. Now the experience of Dale Steyn has gone away and Lungi Ngidi has picked up an injury, Rabada is going to have to lead this pace attack. Your thoughts on Kagiso Rabada and the responsibility on his shoulders and his skill-set in what he brings?
RODDY ESTWICK: Rabada is No 1 bowler for the last two years. The great Bob Marley said "when one door is closed another opens." I don't go looking to see who is not playing and who is injured and all that because that's how cricket is.

People get opportunities in strange ways. So Dale Steyn might be injured, but one of the others might come through and that is the reality of the game.

The key thing is when you get the opportunity you have to grab it, whether you are playing for West Indies, England, Australia, it doesn't matter. So we are not going to worry about who is playing for South Africa.

They are the best cricketers in South Africa. That is why they are here. And we have got to respect them but we must not fear them.

Q. West Indies got a few tough decisions from the umpire in the last game. Have the guys got over that going into tomorrow's game?
RODDY ESTWICK: If you could bring it back for us then, I want to know because I will go and take a bet on the Lottery and get a million pounds, or whatever. It is history. We can't do anything about it. You can't keep looking back. If you keep looking back, you have major problems.

We have now got to look forward. We have a game against South Africa coming up and that is where our energy and focus should be. Not on the past because past is history. It can't come back.

Q. It seems the best-case scenario in terms of whether tomorrow is a game that's maybe sort of on and off quite a bit, does that change your plans in any way?
RODDY ESTWICK: For someone who played cricket in England for 20 years, I never worry about the weather. That's out of our control. If you sit down and worry about the weather, you make bad decisions, rash decisions. All what we can do is when the situation confronts us, we put our heads together and we come up with a game plan that will help us to keep on track. We can't spend our time thinking will it rain, will it not rain, are we going to be up with Duckworth-Lewis and you do that and then it doesn't rain and you lose a few wickets trying to chase down and get ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis.

So we have just to go on the day, see what happens and assess over by over and see what the outcome is.

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