ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 18, 2021

Andrew Balbirnie

Graham Ford

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

Ireland

Media Conference

Q. Either of you can answer this. I presume you both had a major say in the decision. Craig Young was obviously a surprise absentee when we all saw the tin sheet. What was the thinking in giving Mark Adair the start?

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: Yeah, it was a very difficult decision. Craig has definitely warranted a place on our team, but we just saw it with Mark gives us an X factor, and he's got those skills, particularly on a bigger ground. He gives us those skills at the death with three or four for not very many and bowled brilliantly. He obviously adds a bit with the bat as well.

Craig Young is bowling really well, as well as that. The next couple of games we may need to think about which options we want to go in. We have a night game coming up. Craig cooked him into the reckoning.

That's the beauty of this squad at the moment where there's guys not in the 15 that would warrant a place and there's also guys not in the 11 that would warrant a place. We went with that today, and it worked out pretty well.

Q. Josh continues to be consistent with the new ball. Very economical spell?

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: Yeah, he's really impressive. He's been our standout player of the year, if not our player of the year, up there with Paul. He's just very clear on what he wants to do. He trains smart. He's a good thinker of the game. He's always talking about it and always watching different games around the world. He's just getting better and better.

Obviously, being a left-armer, it's great as well. Yeah, he's becoming a huge asset for us.

Q. There was never any doubt about giving Curtis a second over?

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: We didn't have too many other options. He makes something happen. I said that when he first played last year against England. He obviously burst onto the scene with a couple of 50s and some key wickets.

The first over didn't go well for him, but we just kind of broke it down to basics and said bowl as straight as possible, and he did just that.

I've not been involved in too many games where an over like that has happened. Just delighted for him. Having come back from a couple of annoying injuries this year, he's missed quite a bit of cricket, and he deserved that outing today.

Q. Obviously very unusual innings, but I suppose it got the job done. A lot of credit to Gareth, still hitting the ball superbly, isn't he?

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: Yeah, he is. He's peaking at the right time. He had a brilliant innings last week against Bangladesh, and he's taken his form into today and played the sort of innings we want from him. We want him taking the attacks from the bowlers, and he did just that.

I think Paul can play whatever innings he likes at this stage. He's that important to us. He did exactly what we needed from him. He played brilliantly in the power play and then just set up shop for the day and took us home. Yeah, just another really important innings from him.

Q. What are we expecting from Sri Lanka then on Wednesday? Obviously you want to take us home, Graham?

GRAHAM FORD: Sri Lanka, probably about half the squad I know pretty well, and I know the coach very well. We know they're going to be a very competitive, energetic unit. They have had great success in this format in previous years and in previous T20 World Cups, so it will be a huge game for us.

I think a really exciting challenge. We've played a lot of emphasis on really trying to get out and enjoy and enjoy the challenges of this opportunity. So it will be a special day, but yes, a talented group and a group that probably have some players that do things a little differently. They have some players that are able to do some unorthodox stuff that make a difference.

The lads have got a lot of information on them, but at the end of the day, like I said the last evening, it is going to be about how we play on the day. We pitched up today and played with real positive energy and commitment, and if we bring that in again on Wednesday, we give ourselves a good chance.

Q. Never beaten Sri Lanka, of course. Before today, we had never beaten the Dutch in the World Cup. So I suppose that's a good omen, you'll get 2 from 2?

GRAHAM FORD: Hopefully. We'll wait and see. What will be will be.

Q. Well done again. I just have one question about the kind of variety of the attack today and kind of how complete it was. I mean, it was very noticeable at the death there were different plans going on. Josh had a lot of success. Mark was more bowling into the pitch and taking pace off with cutters, et cetera. Those type of plans that you come up with, do you tailor those to the individual bowlers and what their own skill sets are suited to, or are you looking at opposition matchups, or is it a bit of both?

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: It's a bit of both. Josh has obviously become a very skillful bowler for us. I have my ideas, and he has his, but he's the one with the ball in his hands. You've just got to kind of back him to come good with his skills, and he did exactly that.

Mark Adair is the same. Mark had the bigger boundary for that last over and knew what he wanted to do and done what he's done really well over the last couple years when he's had success for us. Both of them were really clear, and that's just the important thing.

I think there's a lot going on out there. It's obviously hot. But if the guys have clarity in what they want to do, that's all you can really ask from them. If they mess up their skills a bit, we can deal with that and we can work with that, but as long as they're clear and 100 percent with what they want to do, I just kind of give them the freedom to try to do it.

Q. Is that an example of messing up the skills but you still back them. That seems like that's exactly what happened in the first over with Curtis where he probably bowled a little bit too wide, but then you backed him and he straightened up and got the rewards?

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: Yeah, so I think I can take credit for all four of those wickets in that over (laughter).

Look, he said it earlier. He said he wasn't happy with his first over. It's clear to see he bowled a touch wide, but that's fine. He's a skillful and talented enough player to know that and then change and bowl straight.

He makes things happen every time he plays with bat or ball, even in the field. So he's become a really, really important cricketer for us in all formats. Yeah, just a brilliant over that kind of changed the momentum of the game.

Q. You guys obviously know the UAE and Abu Dhabi pretty well. You've played a lot of cricket out there. I just wondered what you made of it today and what the conditions were like and what your sole assessment was.

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: I think naturally there's been a lot of cricket here in all three grounds here, a ridiculous amount of cricket. The IPL has just finished. We looked a lot at the scores there and the dimensions in those games and spoke to a couple of guys in the IPL that we knew just about particular, small little things about the ground.

Yeah, you're right. We played three games here -- five games here in January, albeit it one day cricket, but the grounds we know pretty well. It worked today. Like you said, we were brilliant with the ball and good strong fields, and we were aware of the dimensions where to bowl and where not to bowl, and similar with our hitting.

It all kind of came into place. Like we said, we're slowly getting exactly to where we want. This is a great start. That's all it is. We really reiterated that message inside. It's a brilliant win, but it's only one win. If you're guaranteed to have gone through, you need three of them. Hopefully, we can get another one in a couple day's time.

Q. Graham, you mentioned a positive energy around the team. Is that something you tried to instill in the team, or is that something you guys are naturally carrying going into what is an exciting World Cup?

GRAHAM FORD: There certainly is a natural energy and commitment and we've got some bubbly characters, which is always important. But, yes, it is something that we have sort of, in all the cricket that we play, it's something that we do talk about and we do see that, if we get that right, sometimes maybe the opposition may have some bigger names in their group or whatever, but if we get that right, support each other, play with a lot of energy and belief with no fear is probably the biggest thing.

If we get all that right, we can take down some of the biggest odds, which we've managed to do once or twice along the way, which always is enjoyable for everybody. I think they've realized that that does make a difference.

Q. Just one from me. How important is it to start the tournament off with a win and to win with so many balls remaining as well?

ANDREW BALBIRNIE: It's always better to start with a win. I've played in tournaments where we've lost first, you're certainly up against it and playing catch-up. So to have the first win on the board in a really tough group, a really competitive group is great. But you're only as good as your next game, I think, and we're going to play a really good Sri Lanka team in a couple of days.

There's no reason why we can't beat these sort of teams regularly. We've done it in the past here and there. If we can pick that up win as well, it will certainly go a long way to trying to get into the main competition.