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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 30, 2019

Floyd Reifer

Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England, UK

FLOYD REIFER: Good afternoon.

THE MODERATOR: Hi, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. We have our head coach Floyd Reifer. He is going to talk to you about tomorrow's game.

Q. Coach, on circumstances of this nature, where your team finds yourself out of the World Cup, how do you motivate them to play a match for a game like tomorrow?
FLOYD REIFER: Yes, we are out of the World Cup, but there is still a lot of cricket to play after the World Cup. It's important for us to, you know, find the winning ways and find the winning formula going forward, so it is important for us to play this game as hard as possible.

We want to create that winning culture. It has to start from somewhere. So we're going to approach every game in a professional manner. The guys are still up for it. We're good to go.

We had a long conversation in the dressing room, so we did a lot of soul-searching. It is important for us and important for the fans in the Caribbean as well, for us to put up the performances, even at the back end of the World Cup.

Q. The battle between Lasith Malinga and Chris Gayle, how big is it going to be tomorrow?
FLOYD REIFER: Well, these guys have played against each other for the last 10 years, 12 years, so they have had some good battles. We expect a good battle tomorrow between Malinga and Chris.

Q. You said there was a lot of soul-searching in that long meeting in the changing room. What sort of things were discussed? Where has it gone wrong for you guys in this tournament so far?
FLOYD REIFER: I think we didn't seize the key moments in games. You look back at our tournament, we played well against Pakistan. We had Australia on the ropes. New Zealand as well, you know. I thought we need to seize the key moments in the game. At crucial times we, you know, we dropped a few crucial chances as well.

And then collectively, you know, we didn't bat properly. So it's just small things that we didn't do, the 1 percenters that didn't we do well. So these are the sort of things we discussed as a team.

The players are not comfortable with their performances, responsibility, those sort of conversations that we had in that team meeting. So going forward, I'm looking forward to seeing how the guys play in the next two games.

You know, we have a lot to play for. Like I said before, there is a lot of cricket to play after the World Cup, so it is important that we keep building what we did well here as well in the World Cup because we did some things well, you know, but it's just the end result wasn't in our favour.

Q. Depending on what happens today in Edgbaston, Sri Lanka could be out of contention for the semifinals as well. Does that have any influence on your mindset going into the game at all?
FLOYD REIFER: No, our mindset is to win. Obviously there is a process to winning by playing. You have to bat, bowl and field well. You have to make sure you are on top of your game in all three departments. So like I said, if the persons are playing a professional game, a game with intent, it is important for us to win, you know.

Like I said at the start, winning ways. We have got to create that winning culture and it can start from here now. We had some good games in the World Cup, but we just need to get the 1 percenters right. Once we get the 1 percenters right, then you will see we will get the results.

Q. Despite the semifinal hopes fading away, the fact that you guys have had a couple of very close games, and the fact that this West Indies squad, the average age is only 27, you tend to think that the future of West Indies cricket in safe hands?
FLOYD REIFER: The future of our cricket is good. You know, we have a lot of young guys here. Hope, Pooran, Hetmyer, Oshane Thomas. We have young John Campbell, he was injured from early. So our future is good. I'm confident in these youngsters that going forward we can bring West Indies cricket back to where it belongs at the top.

Yes, it is unfortunate we didn't get to the final four in this competition, but going forward I'm happy from what I have seen. Sheldon Cottrell had a very good World Cup. So we have a lot of young guys that we can mould and build a strong unit going forward.

Q. Coach, just following on from that question. Is there any one younger player you think has stepped up in this tournament who you identify as being a leader for the next generation of batsmen or bowlers, particularly that you would want to see sort of do much better and be part of the, be a leader for the next generation team, once guys like Gayle are gone?
FLOYD REIFER: Yes, like I said, we have a group of guys that for us is to create leaders and that is something we have got to focus on in the Caribbean as well in our franchise and first-class cricket to create more leaders amongst ourselves.

We have a good young group of players. Like I said, Hetmyer, Hope, Sheldon Cottrell, Pooran. Those guys are young players and we have young guys coming up as well, Keemo Paul.

So we have good talent in the Caribbean in the system. We have to make sure that we nurture that talent very well. When we get back to the Caribbean it's important that we, you know, put guys in the environment and put them in a tough situation where they have to train and train hard and prepare and prepare well.

Q. Has anyone in this World Cup stepped up and shown signs of being that leader?
FLOYD REIFER: Yes, young Hope, he's done well in the batting. Hetmyer, he was U19 captain. In the bowling department, I like the effort that Sheldon Cottrell put in. He is a soldier and a true soldier as well. But he put in a really good effort in the field, batting -- not batting, but bowling, he bowled with energy, you know. He really put 120 percent in every time he bowled and also in the fielding as well, so we have some players that we identify as future leaders.

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