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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 10, 2019

Floyd Reifer

Southampton, England, UK

South Africa - 29-2, West Indies - did not bat

Match abandoned due to adverse weather

Q. Is that a point won or a point lost?
FLOYD REIFER: (Smiling) It's a point in today's game. It's unfortunate in that you can't do anything about the weather situation. In terms of the point, we'll take the point and move forward in the competition.

Q. Did you think it was a good time to be playing South Africa and having them two wickets down quite early, did you see it as an opportunity to perhaps register regardless of how much time there may have been in the game if it was possible?
FLOYD REIFER: Yes, it was a good opportunity to play against them, like any other team in the competition. We are playing cricket, we are playing fearless cricket. So it doesn't matter who we play. When we play them, we want to play the same brand of cricket that we are playing, what we executed in the past couple of games.

Q. You mentioned the 'fearless cricket'. The way West Indies chase against Australia, do you see any issues with that? It seemed like a game they should have won but they lost the big moments. How did you assess that match, in particular the chase?
FLOYD REIFER: It was a chase that we should have won. We kind of made some mistakes at key points in the game and it happens in cricket, but you learn from it. I'm sure next time most guys will be in that position and will make better decisions.

Q. So you seem to be going back-and-forth between Evin Lewis and Darren Bravo. Can you talk us through that? What is the thought process? Each of them is getting a game and then the other comes back in like today?
FLOYD REIFER: It is not a case of back-and-forth. Evin got struck on his hand in one of the practice sessions so he is still getting some pain, some severe pain from it as well, so he played last game, but he is still having some pain in his hand, so it is not a case of being back-and-forth.

Q. What is the update on Andre Russell and will he be fit enough for England?
FLOYD REIFER: Yes, Andre will be fit enough for the game on Friday. The game against England is a big game for us. We are looking forward to that game. Looking at the weather forecast, it was 90 percent rain today and they had rain over the last couple of days here as well. So it is just a precautionary measure where we are kind of wrapping him in cotton wool.

Q. This is Chris Gayle's last one-day international tournament. How is he gelling with the team? Is he passing on his experience to the youngsters? How is it to have him around the dressing room? He seems to be having great fun around there.
FLOYD REIFER: Chris is a legend. Any dressing room in any team to be graced with Chris Gayle's presence is good for us. And he's passing on a lot of knowledge within the team. We have some young guys in the team who are also learning a lot from him.

But for his presence in the dressing room alone, it goes a long way.

Q. You say the game against England is going to be a big match on Friday. How do you think your batsmen will cope with the pace of Jofra Archer?
FLOYD REIFER: To be honest, we knew Jofra for a long time. He is from Barbados, where we are from. We knew him from the U15, U17, U19 so he is not new to us. Yes, he's bowling quickly, but there's nothing that we are not accustomed to. We are looking forward to the challenge. So we will see how it goes on Friday.

Q. That familiarity with Jofra, will that add a bit of spice and entertainment to the contest?
FLOYD REIFER: We are entertainers, we are here to entertain so the players come out and entertain us.

But yes, we will have a good game. I'm sure Jofra will be chomping at the bit to come at us and we will be ready for him.

Q. South Africa mentioned the longer the rain was falling, the more they were hoping that the game was totally washed out. Presumably, that means you guys were kind of hoping, after the start you had, that there would be enough play to constitute a game?
FLOYD REIFER: Yes, we were looking forward to the game, especially the start that we had in the game. And planning for the game last night, we were really looking forward to this game. After they lost the first three games their confidence as a team will be a bit low, so we wanted to take a big advantage of that.

Like I said, it's the weather. It's England. 90 percent rain today. So there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to take the one point, like I said before, and look forward to the other games.

Q. On Jofra, did you work with Jofra in a coaching capacity?
FLOYD REIFER: No, but I knew him from the U17, U19 days. I actually played club cricket against him as a young guy. So Jofra is a tremendous talent, we all know that. Like I said, we are looking forward to the game on Friday.

Q. He always struck you as somebody with the talent to play international cricket?
FLOYD REIFER: Yes, definitely. He obviously had the pace. He had a few injuries as a young guy. But I'm guessing though he's fully over those injuries and he is bowling very well for England.

Q. Are you disappointed he is not wearing maroon?
FLOYD REIFER: (Laughter) He made his choice.

Q. He did, yes.
FLOYD REIFER: He did.

Q. In any format it is extremely important to get wickets and Sheldon has been doing it in all three games. A word about how he is bowling and how the entire of them are coming along?
FLOYD REIFER: In a competition like this, you come to England where the wickets are supposed to be flat and a lot of high scores. When you look at the games played before the World Cup there's been a lot of high scores as well.

It is important for teams and important for us to take wickets. And you see the brand of cricket that we are playing, the guys have created that new brand of cricket for West Indies, where we want to take wickets, we want to bowl out teams, so wickets are important.

Wickets changes the tempo of the game. No matter what the situation, or in any format that you play, wickets are important.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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