ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 23, 2021

Marcus Stoinis

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

Australia

Post Match Media Conference

Australia - 121/5 (19.4), South Africa - 118/9 (20)

Q. What were you sort of, you know, focussed on out there with that nervous period at the end there? What did you feel needed to get done to ice the chase?

MARCUS STOINIS: The main thing for me there was actually just trying to stay AS calm as I can, and for a Greek Australian, that's pretty hard. I mean, you saw a bit of emotion come out toward the end but the main thing is we were communicating, trying to sort out who was going to bowl, make a plan and then stay calm from there.

Q. Certainly in the big bash, both you and Martin are known as top-order players and there's been some question marks about Australia's finishing. Was it sort of nice to prove that you guys can do the job as finishers?

MARCUS STOINIS: Yeah, I think that's important. I know there's a lot of questions around that sort of stuff. But all we can do as players is play the role that we get picked to play. Whether that's at the top like you said in big bash, or whether that's in the bottom at Australia towards the finishing end.

Yeah, it was good. It was a bit of a -- I won't lie, there was a bit of a feeling of here we go again. There's a run chase on here. It was nice to get that one over the line.

Q. What made it quite tricky out there today? It seemed there wasn't really any batters on either side that really got fluency until you late. Did conditions take you a bit by surprise or is that what you expected?

MARCUS STOINIS: It's what we expected to -- to an extent. I mean, it was quite hard to get under the ball because it was skidding on quite a bit. It was more skidding on and it wasn't too quick. So it's hard to get under and up, under the ball.

But I guess partnerships is the key, and then get used to the conditions while you're out there. It's one thing having a plan but you also have to work things out on the fly while you're out there. We saw through the IPL the scores were not as high as they have been in the past and that might be a trend we'll see in the World Cup.

Q. In tournament play, the importance is just to get a win no matter how pretty or ugly it is. How much confidence do you think the team will get now that you've got a win under your belt and can it sort of set the tone for the campaign?

MARCUS STOINIS: Yeah, I think it's important to start tournaments like this on the right foot I guess.

I mean, it's obvious that you want to win, but yeah, in these short tournaments, I think no matter how you win, it's always a better feeling. You wake up the next morning, it's always better winning than losing.

So yeah, hopefully good times ahead.

Q. Just on Maxi's bowling, probably saw more than normal. Should we expect that to continue to happen or was it a bit of a match-up thing tonight and obviously no Ashton Agar, as well?

MARCUS STOINIS: I think to an extent, matchup, but Maxi's is a brilliant Twenty20 bowler. He's obviously played so much and one of the benefits of batting like he does is he understands the game and he understands what batters are trying to do, so I think he's definitely someone we should be using through this World Cup and in general in white ball cricket. It did match up to a few of their left-handers and the wicket suited it. But yeah, there's no reason why he won't be bowling.

Q. Would it be tough on Ashton if he continued to be left out because of that?

MARCUS STOINIS: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I don't think there's any easy choices. So it's really unfortunate. But I also do think there's going to be -- I think everyone is going to get used in this tournament. The conditions, we have to adapt as we go. He's got such a good record. He's been so good for us. So I wouldn't be counting anything out.

Q. Having such a scrap like that first up, what do you go away and how do you assess the batting performance after a close scrap like that?

MARCUS STOINIS: Yeah, in those scraps, I think it can be quite difficult. I think the key in those sort of games is to build some partnerships. But I mean, also, you've got to be aggressive at the start and so that's what our overs look to do. Finchie was -- I don't know whether it's unlucky, but like tried to hit a cut shot and got caught down on the fence there. So like that's what we ask him to do, look to score.

Davey was looking good. I actually think Mitch looked brilliant and his plans were good. He was looking dangerous. He hit a few nice shots straight at the fielder.

So these games -- South Africa fielded very well. They bowled well. They scrapped. They are really good at that. They put a lot of pressure on us and they are known for that. Yeah, we'll talk as a batting group but you're always so close, it's never big things. It's small things.

Q. You mentioned that feeling of "here we go again." What do you think in terms of sort of the batting group, what have you learned compared to previous collapses that you were able to do better today and I suppose just on the whole, do you feel sort of confident that as a batting order, you can post some far bigger totals than that when given the chance?

MARCUS STOINIS: Well, to be honest, you've got to get conditions to score the big total. I mean, that's just sometimes how cricket goes. What I'd asked with those conditions is to adapt to the situation, and it doesn't always mean that we are going to post big scores or make it look easy.

But I think that's what's our role as professional cricketers. You go out, see what's happening, you understand the situation, you try to play as best as you can. That's always we can do, I reckon.

Q. You mentioned before that in this tournament, almost everyone will get a go because you have to really adapt to situations and conditions. What was it about today's situation that led to the three fast bowlers, specialist fast bowlers being picked, and I guess in other formats, Australia really relies on its fast bowling. Can you continue to do that here even though most people would have expected the conditions to be slow?

MARCUS STOINIS: Yeah, I mean, that's what's so hard. I think obviously I'm not involved in any of those discussions about selection, so that makes it hard. I'd love to give you some comments on that. But I mean, it was always going to be hard for someone that missed out. All of those players that were in the mix there, all of us, there's an argument for everyone to be on the team.

I think also the power play bowling is really important and it showed today. Josh (ph) bowled brilliantly. He went for pretty much no runs and seven or three overs I think. Kamo (ph) bowled brilliantly and Starcy finishes off with a deafening swing with a new ball. There's no easy answers and we'll probably just see what happens as the tournament goes.