ICC WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

June 19, 2021

Kyle Jamieson

Hampshire Bowl

New Zealand Media Conference

Q. How important was your spell in terms of getting a hold of the match and how do you guys feel about the way things have gone?

KYLE JAMIESON: Yeah, I think it's probably pretty even at the moment. I think it was probably a pretty good day of Test cricket really. I think the disruptions probably didn't help the momentum we were trying to get and that we had at the time, and yeah, I think it was just a good day for cricket really. I think they played really well. They put away the bad balls when they were there and they were really patient outside off.

Our plan was just to kind of stick around there, and credit to them, they played pretty well, but I think we were able to, I guess, keep things relatively restricted and grab three important wickets, as well.

Q. Kyle, well bowled today. 14 overs for 14 runs; have you ever had figures like that before?

KYLE JAMIESON: Thank you. I'm not too sure. It's probably not something I keep too much of a track of. Look, I think it was obviously pretty crucial to try and keep the ball in reasonable areas for a long period, and yeah, I mean, I guess those runs are there, but yeah, it was just good to, I guess, just sort of halt the momentum a little bit.

I think how we did that as a bowling unit throughout the day after they started off really well was pretty pleasing to keep things in the bounds pretty nicely.

Q. You say they got off to a good start. Bowling that well against a batting attack of that quality, how much does that mean to you?

KYLE JAMIESON: Oh, yeah, obviously we know they're a quality lineup from 1 to 11. There's a reason why they've been one of the top teams in the world for a long period of time, and I think for us as a unit, it was about just trying to keep the ball in the right areas for long periods, and I think we were able to do that for the most part today, and yeah, we'll certainly take a lot of confidence out of that moving into tomorrow.

Q. India's batting coach said that 250 runs would be very handy on this wicket, so what's your take on that?

KYLE JAMIESON: Well, I don't know. I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion around what they think is a good score and what's not. We certainly haven't spoken around a number and what that looks like. I think it's -- whilst the ball was still moving about, I don't think it's the worst surface, either.

I think there is opportunities to score runs as a batting team, and whilst, like I said, there is still some help in terms of the ball moving around and still seaming that I think the Indian batters have shown that if you stay patient, there are still runs to be had. Whether 250 is a good score or more or less, I guess time will tell.

Q. I just wanted to ask how frustrating the stoppages of play were today?

KYLE JAMIESON: Oh, yeah, certainly pretty frustrating, but it's one of the cards we're dealt really. Certainly when you bowl sort of three or four balls and you go off and then come back on for another couple and then you go off again, it's not how you'd like it ideally, but again, it's just sort of the cards we've been dealt, and it's the same with rain. We've all played in games throughout our careers where we've been off for rain or off for bad light.

Obviously the spectacle is such a special one for everyone involved, and you don't want that to be, I guess, curtailed by bad light or rain, but yeah, look, it's kind of part and parcel of what we sign up for, and hopefully we get some good amount of play in tomorrow.

Q. Can you talk to us a little bit about how you found your personal duel with Virat Kohli today.

KYLE JAMIESON: I don't know if it's like personally around whether we -- but I think as a unit to all their batters we were pretty good. I don't think they scored much more than two an over for most of the day, and yeah, I think that just shows that we were able to keep the ball in challenging areas for long periods, and that's what we pride ourselves on.

Yeah, I guess certainly his numbers will point to that, but I think certainly the rest of the batters and their strike rates and how they're able to score during the day, yeah, certainly something that we're conscious of and what we'll try and do tomorrow and hopefully grab a few more wickets, as well.

Q. I don't know what the chat was on the field, but were the umpires pretty insistent that you had to leave the field?

KYLE JAMIESON: I'm not actually too sure. Certainly it's some of those conversations that I don't really get included into much. It's sort of between Kane and the umpires and Virat and the umpires. Yeah, I'm a long way from those calls being made, so I just kind of do what I'm told, really.

Q. I'm wondering if you and the unit and the team were surprised when the umpires asked for the review.

KYLE JAMIESON: Yeah, I'm not really sure what sort of happened there. I was down at fine leg, so I didn't really hear what happened. Obviously I saw Trent go up and just thought something that happened, and didn't see what the process was with the umpires and with Kane asking for review or how that worked. We didn't really talk about it too much in the huddle when I was in there, but yeah, I'm not really sure what went on. Obviously the right decision was made in the end, and yeah, we just kind of got on with it.

Q. Interested in how the openers negated the swinging ball. They seemed to play really quite well and that's when the ball was seaming quite a bit. Is that something you expected and did you change your plans accordingly or what were you expecting?

KYLE JAMIESON: I think that you look at their lineup, you're always expecting those guys to play well. I think they've got pretty good records and they've done some pretty special things around the world, so we always knew it was going to be a challenge. They certainly played well through that first hour. They put away any sort of slightly bad ball and hit it for four basically or were able to score quite freely, whereas probably times in the past you sort of bowl one that's maybe not quite there and teams will leave it or not score as freely, so they certainly played pretty well for that first hour, and yeah, in terms of trying to change between swing and seam, I think all the guys were just playing around with whether we tried to wobble the ball a bit more and try and keep guys engaged or whether we were trying to move it a little bit.

Yeah, it's probably part of our arsenal around how we used that ball, but there was no sort of set plans on how we wanted to operate post that first hour or post lunch.

Q. Do you think going by the way that things are with the rain would they be hoping to have selected a different team?

KYLE JAMIESON: No, I think they'll be pretty content with the playing 11 they've selected for this game. We've only seen 60 overs of play, so I don't think there's any suggestion that there was, I guess, an error made there. I think all the guys that bowled today offered a huge amount and were able to get the ball to talk, and that's been a strength of ours for a period of time.

Yeah, I wouldn't have thought that would be a conversation topic in our camp anyway.

Q. What do you make of the tactics used by Shubman Gill and Rohit when they were charging down the track, and what kind of adjustments did you and Colin make after the first 15 overs?

KYLE JAMIESON: It's certainly an interesting one. It's not something we probably expected a huge amount. But yeah, I guess everyone will sort of take that differently. My take on it was that if they were walking, they weren't comfortable with where I was bowling when they were on the crease, so I tried to take that as a bit of a positive that we were winning the battle in a way that the more if they felt like they had to move around to try to throw us off, if we could just sort of hang in that area that would sort of bring dividends.

I guess that showed that yep, they were able to move around a little bit, but we were also able to get them out, as well. It's just about trying to stay patient. I think especially in England with the way the ball does tend to move around throughout the innings that you don't want to allow guys to put you off the area. That's always going to be the hardest ball to play, and if you can hang in there long enough regardless of whether guys are moving around or moving forward or back, if you keep the ball there long enough, hopefully you'll go all right.