ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 27, 2021

Richie Berrington

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

Scotland

Post Match Media Conference

Namibia 115/6, Scotland 109/8

Q. The first few overs were probably hard. It's not often that any team has so many left armers at the top. Was that a challenge facing up to the left armers with the ball skidding on, as well?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Yeah, look, I thought they bowled extremely well up front. Obviously to have a first over like that makes it pretty hard to recover. I thought we showed a lot of fight through the middle overs there, just unfortunately we couldn't get enough runs on the board to give us a chance in the second innings.

Q. Were the sort of conditions more challenging to bat because the ball seemed to skid on a lot more and then later in the second half your spinners came in to play a lot more of the lower bounce?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Yeah, I don't think it was the easiest wicket to sort of get going on. I think it would probably never end on that sort of pitch. As I say, it was really important on that kind of wicket to try and get a partnership. Unfortunately for us, obviously Michael Leask I thought played really well, but unfortunately we weren't able to get that extra sort of 20, 30 runs that we needed.

Q. Despite all of that, you just took the game really, really deep. How proud are you especially of the spinners' effort tonight?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Yeah, look, one of the strengths of this team is the fight we show, and I thought we did that the second innings. The bowlers bowled really well, managed to put them under pressure through the middle period there. As I say, just unfortunately we didn't have quite enough to play with.

Q. Obviously you've got a few days off now before the New Zealand game. Do you know what the plan is that you've got a couple of days off to recover and relax? What's the plan?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Yeah, we'll just have to wait and see. I think we'll probably take a couple of days maybe just to get away from it and just reflect a little bit on that performance. We've got a little bit of time now before we play our next game, so it will be nice just to have a couple days together and just reflect and try and move forward.

Q. Obviously three massive games against three of the world's best countries, so the guys will get excited for that I imagine in a couple days' time?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Yeah, absolutely. Look, it's not every day you get to be at World Cup, so we have to keep enjoying it. We've got some exciting fixtures coming up, and we just need to keep believing and keep looking to improve. You just never know. We'll look forward to that.

Q. With this kind of little bit of a break now between the games, is there anything in particular you would say you kind of need to work on, maybe something that kind of you'll focus on a little bit more after the first two fixtures?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Look, I think we just need a little bit of time to reflect on that, which we will do as a group, and we'll look to see where we can improve. There's probably a couple areas. Obviously being a few wickets down early doesn't make things easy.

I don't think we have to go searching too much. We just have to kind sort of backing our skills and keep being clear with our game plans.

Q. How impressed were you with Michael Leask's all-round performance tonight? He kind of delivered with bat and ball.

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Yeah, I thought he's been excellent. He's been in really good form over the last month. He's striking the ball as well as he ever has. I'm sure we'll see plenty more from him. I thought the way he bowled, as well, coming on under pressure with not a lot to defend was great.

Q. Do you hope with kind of the three games you've got coming up, that can kind of bring the best out of the boys, playing this kind of calibre of opposition?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: Yeah, absolutely. As I say, we've got a bit of time now before the next game, but it's one we'll definitely be looking forward to. It's not every day, as I said before, you get to play a World Cup. We'll be looking forward to those.

Q. I just wonder given the optimism going into this phase, are there regrets with how these first three games have turned out because you were kind of really on a high going into this stage?

RICHIE BERRINGTON: I wouldn't say any regrets. Obviously we're disappointed with the last two games. We haven't played as well as we know we can. But for us, look, we just have to look to regroup and just look to come back stronger.

I think the thing about this team is we're always looking to improve, and we'll certainly keep doing that.