ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 19, 2021

Kyle Coetzer

Oman Cricket Academy Ground

Scotland

Post Match Media Conference

Scotland - 165/9 (20), Papua New Guinea - 148 (19.3)

Q. Congrats on the win. Partying in the dressing room by the sounds of it. Your thoughts?

KYLE COETZER: Yeah, happy. We certainly would have taken this before the first game of the tournament. So, yeah, very happy. Not necessarily any party so to speak. It's just our song that we sing after every victory. Got to keep the spirits guy. Guys are doing well. Just try and keep the momentum going.

Q. The game itself, how important was the third wicket partnership in the batting that solidified that start and pushed you on to a victory?

KYLE COETZER: Yeah, extremely important. You need to try to find one or two partnerships in a T20 to really give yourself a chance to post a decent score. Richie Berrington and Matt Cross played outstandingly well. Richie obviously the man of the match, and he's been doing that consistently for us over the last -- well, the last month or so.

Yeah, I actually feel, we probably left a few out on the park. Credit to PNG, the way they bowled in the death overs, I thought they bowled excellently and used the boundary sizes to benefit them.

So yeah, there's a few things for us to look at going into our last game, but yeah, pretty happy with where we are.

Q. You defended a much lower total against Bangladesh successfully, so 165 on this wicket, were you happy at halftime?

KYLE COETZER: At halftime, yeah, we were happy with 165. We felt that was enough to give us enough space to restrict PNG. But you can see the dangers they have on their team. Norman Vanua came out there and played extremely well. Assad Vala, their captain, he's been in good form following the first game of the competition, and we know the dangers that they pose.

So credit to them. They pushed us all the way there. They gave us a few nervous moments. But our bowlers, Josh Davey especially at the end was fantastic. Mark Watt, as well, as usual, does the job and maybe goes under the radar a little bit, but he bowled some excellent overs there today.

Q. Your thoughts on bowling and fielding, because coming out you managed to get a few early wickets. Did that set the tone for the rest of the innings?

KYLE COETZER: Yeah, the plan is always to try to take early wickets. The best way to extend the run flow is to pick up wickets, and yeah, it was nice that that went our way today and we did do that.

I think we didn't quite nail everything that we want to nail on the field today. They pushed us really hard. Their speed between the wickets, the way they ran got us under a bit of pressure out there today. There was a few fumbled. Catching wasn't 100 percent today but you know, it never always goes the way you want it to. No one means to drop a catch.

But there's still things we just need to keep an eye on and make sure we're ready, I guess there's maybe a few nerves there towards the end the way how fast Norman was swinging that bat. So anyone can get scared when he gets going. A bit for us to keep our eye on but really happy at the end of the day.

Q. As you said, the dropped catch towards the end, a few sixes to close out the game, a double-digit to clear in T20 cricket fairly comfortable, but was this as comfortable as it seemed maybe because towards the end, slightly nervous?

KYLE COETZER: Yeah, look, it's the nature of T20 cricket that if somebody gets going as Norman did, then it's sometimes hard to stop them. He was hitting the ball cleanly, and Chad Soper came in at the end, all credit to him as well with the way he struck the ball in that last over.

He hit one huge stick (ph) to Josh Davey, and you know, you try and restrict them as best you can. You try and use conditions as best you can, and sometimes you've got to give the batter some credit, as we had to do with Richie today, because I thought PNG bowled pretty well and he came out with a fantastic inning.

Like I said there's a few things to keep our eyes on but nothing that is worrying. We've got full confidence in our players, and when the pressure is on, we'll deliver when we need to.

Q. This win almost guarantees qualification to the next stage. How will you take the final game?

KYLE COETZER: I'm not sure anything guarantees qualification yet. There's still plenty on the line. We'll be watching this game with a lot of interest. But there's certainly going to be a game to play for, and the way these tournaments are, the way qualifying tournaments are; what happened with us in Zimbabwe a couple of years ago, we know it comes down to that last game and it always does. Very rarely is it just a straightforward scenario going into the last game. You know, by no means have we qualified yet. But we will be watching this game very closely.

Q. You mentioned the conditions a little bit there. How was it for you today in the middle of the day? It's quite hot out here. How did you and the team find it?

KYLE COETZER: When we got off the bus it said 40 degrees on the thermometer. That was a bit of a shock to the system but we've been out here for a little while now. The guys are more accustomed to it but it's still a shock to the system when you step off that bus and the wind hits you. It's a warm, hot breeze.

So the guys at our S&C, Nick Karamouzis is doing a fantastic job. He's got ice vests and ice flurries and all sorts things to keep the guys' core temperatures down.

It was a challenge, the first half especially, when it was so warm. But the guys handled it really well. Matt Cross, Richie Berrington ran between the wickets extremely well today. It's good to see we are getting better and better in the heats and it's nice to know the temperatures are coming down just a little bit for us.

Q. How important is it to you as captain to have dependable figures out there like Richie and Josh that you can turn to in key moments of the game and you know that you can count on them to contribute?

KYLE COETZER: Yeah, I mean, we have some extremely dangerous and experienced players going through our lineup.

So knowing that if things don't quite go to plan that there is someone that is capable of putting a hand up there to win us a game, and Richie is doing it consistently for us at the moment. Crossy has been extremely -- been doing it extremely well as well and everyone at some stage or other during our time out here has been -- has put a score on the board.

So lots of confidence there amongst our group that someone will put up their hand, as did, again, Mark Watt with the ball today and Josh Davey showing his skills at the end. They were just superb.

Q. How important do you think this journey is to Scottish cricket?

KYLE COETZER: I think you're saying how important are the victories for Scottish cricket, yes, extremely important. Every victory is an important victory. There's no easy game wherever we are, and a win against PNG is as valuable as any other win in this competition.

We know that we have to play well to win every single game, and the exposure that it brings back home, and the following we've had since our victory against Bangladesh the other day has been incredible, a huge amount of thanks needs to go out to everyone who has sent messages.

I know for a fact Chris Greaves had over 160 messages on his phone the other day, so it was really nice to see that. The follow has been fantastic. It's great to see everyone getting behind us, and there's a few people, names pop up out of the woodwork that you haven't heard for a long time but it's still really nice to hear the support.

Yeah, these victories are very important but it would be nice to get one more..

Q. Before you left, you did heat training back home in Edinburgh. How much difference has that made or is it a whole different level when you get there?

KYLE COETZER: Well, there was a lot of thought that went into it, that's for sure. I'm pretty sure the S&C can hear me right now, so I'm going to have to say it made a big difference. But there was a lot of thought that was there. I'm not quite sure where he managed to clamper up all the kit for it, but we were basically in greenhouse tents with heaters in there trying to get it as hot as we possibly could sitting on bikes pedaling for 30 minutes to 40 minutes at a time. He was certainly keeping us on our toes and I've got no doubt that that made a difference.

But what we did learn about ourselves is about how important it is to try and keep our core temperatures down especially in these conditions especially when it's hot. Once those core conditions get up, it takes longer than you think to bring it down.

It is a player safety concern certain, as well, at times, especially when you're on the field and running up and down, and to try and to stay cool when it's 40 degrees is a pretty decent effort. There was a lot of thought that went into it and it certainly made a difference.