ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 3, 2021

Ashton Agar

Dubai International Stadium

Australia

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. A couple of months ago you guys faced huge challenge in Bangladesh in very slow, low and turning threat. Now things are different. Do you think now Bangladesh will face the real challenge against full-strength Australian side?

ASHTON AGAR: Very different conditions. I think you've summed that up quite nicely, actually. It's probably the first time a lot of us have played in those conditions like that in Bangladesh, and we definitely found that challenging, and to be fair, Bangladesh played those conditions incredibly well, and we weren't surprised that they played well at home, but it is very different now.

We have a very different looking side, and the wickets certainly aren't playing like those pitches that we played on over there.

We'll see what happens, I guess. We'll go out there and we'll try and put our best foot forward. We need to win, and the guys are really excited to play and really want to win, as well. It should be a good game.

Q. What's it like sort of knowing that even two wins might not be enough for you guys to go through? Obviously you'll need England to probably do you a favour and beat South Africa. Is that something you guys are thinking about or you're just purely thinking about the two games you've got to win?

ASHTON AGAR: No, purely thinking about the two games we have to win. Sometimes that's really good because you know you have to win those games.

We go into every game thinking that you have to win it, I think. It's something that helps you move on from the England game. I think that's really important, to move forward, to put that one behind us because England played incredibly well, and obviously they beat us pretty convincingly.

The only thing we can do is move forward now and try and win and win strongly. We certainly have the side that's able to do that. We've got so many options, such great squad depth. So yeah, going out there and trying to win the next game and then win the one after that, as well.

Q. Just on your role in the three games, it looks as though it's probably an either-or selection between yourself and the extra batter in Mitch. How is that for you in this sort of tournament environment knowing that one day you might be playing and the next day because of matchups or conditions you might not be?

ASHTON AGAR: Yeah, naturally it's really tough anytime you don't get selected when you've been playing well.

When it's based around matchups or conditions, you understand that it's part of -- being part of a really strong squad and doing what's necessary for that game at that point in time, those conditions, that matchup, and that's how we'll go about our business. So it's not necessarily being dropped, it's more about being not selected for that specific game and the guys who that's happened to. It happened to me; it happened to Mitch. I'm sure you would have felt that emotion straight away as soon as you get the news, but I feel like we've moved on from that really well, and you do everything you can to help your mates out out there because it certainly takes a squad to win these tournaments.

Q. You mentioned the fact this is very much one of the games you have to win rather than the bigger picture on the table. I was just wondering, yesterday the training was obviously the first time the group came together. Did Justin or Aaron sort of bring everyone in, and if so what was the chat? Was it sort of along those lines?

ASHTON AGAR: It was very brief, and it was about, like I said earlier, just moving on, putting what happened behind us now, focusing on the games in front of us. That was the extent of the chat.

I think everyone knows what they have to do. We've got plenty of guys who have played a lot of cricket now, played a lot of tournaments, who understand the game well and understand themselves. They're able to manage themselves quite well, too.

Each individual just needs to get what they need out of training the next couple days to be best prepared for the games going forward, and I think we're doing that pretty well. It was very simple.

That's the beauty of these tournaments; it's not like a series where you face the same opposition again and again and it allows you to just move on, move on. All you can do is move on to the next one.

Q. I'm pretty sure you were training during that Bangladesh-South Africa game; have you had a chance as a group to have a chat about that? Was there anything that stood out that you think you can try to replicate?

ASHTON AGAR: No, no, we haven't chatted about that yet. I think you can't put too much energy into games that have already happened. You know, like I said, we'll focus on what we do really well. We certainly do our research on the opposition. We've got a spinners' meeting coming up in a couple of hours. The batters will have their meeting, the fastbowlers will have their meeting, and the leaders will, as well. The goal is just to put all that information together at the right time out on the field, well-researched and focusing on what we do well.

Q. Just interested from a million miles away to sort of get a bit of a feel for the conditions. The next two games you've got coming up are day games, so from my vantage point on the other side of the world it would seem that should suit the spinners more because it won't be damp with dew. What's your feeling on that?

ASHTON AGAR: It's been surprising actually at Dubai that the dew hasn't come in as much. It maybe greases up the wicket a little bit so that the ball comes on to the bat a bit nicer, and as we've seen in the night games, that chasing seems to be the way to go. So the day games to an extent takes the toss out of the equation, which is actually really good. I think that actually suits us really well.

For the spinners, yeah, maybe it will help. Maybe we will get a little bit more grip or a little bit more hold or stop in the wicket, whatever you want to call it. Zamps and I feel like we can exploit those conditions pretty well given the opportunity. We'll just see what happens.

Q. I was just interested that you were picked in a day-night game where I thought conversely it might be more difficult with the dew. How did you feel about that?

ASHTON AGAR: I felt fine. I think to be fair, we've practiced bowling with wet balls. I think that's something you have to prepare for coming to this part of the world, knowing that that often plays a really big factor. Usually around 7:00 onwards is when that dew factor could come in. But it hasn't been the case here in Dubai. In Abu Dhabi I'm not sure if that'll play more of a part. I've heard it's a little bit more like that there. Yeah, it was kind of a nice surprise that it wasn't too difficult the other night.

Q. Just wanted to ask you about your partnership with Adam Zampa, what it is that you think you do well and how that developed where you do well in tandem and how that developed through that winter tour to the Caribbean and Bangladesh.

ASHTON AGAR: Well, it's probably been a few years now really with Zamps and I. It starts more as us being friends, I think. We have pretty similar interests. We just get each other as people and our senses of humour match up nicely, so we enjoy each other's companies, so that helps any time you're playing with someone who's in a similar role. So that allows us to communicate really well out on the field. Whenever we're bowling together, it becomes apparent really quickly what role we're going to play, so after both of our first overs, if he takes a wicket or if I take a wicket, we communicate that and work out, well, maybe if I take the wicket I'll be the one who attacks and he's the one that defends, or vice versa, that way, so we try and complement each other as much as we can and make each other's job a little bit easier. When we put that together, usually it works out pretty well.

We enjoy playing together. It's something we really try and own there.

Q. Is it something that you hope you get to do a bit more together or that you think those conditions in the next couple of games might be more favorable to that kind of bowling partnership?

ASHTON AGAR: Certainly a chance. You sort of never know what to expect over here. Last game the wicket which has traditionally been spinning a little bit more in Dubai carried through a bit better and moved around a little bit for the seam bowlers at the start of the game, so England got -- exploited those conditions quite nicely. So we'll just wait and see. I think we're ready is the most important part. We're ready if we're both picked in the same team to go and do that job together and do a good job.

You can never be too certain about what's going to happen because you start playing the game over in your head a little bit too much, but like I said, if the opportunity comes, we'll be ready.

Q. Andrew McDonald spoke yesterday about how the loss to England may have given you clarity. Apologies if someone has already asked this, and that you were having a team meeting after he spoke. Do you feel like you all have more clarity as a team now, more clarity than you did before?

ASHTON AGAR: Yeah, clarity, it's hard to define exactly what he would have been talking about out of the context of how he answered that question or how that was posed, so it's hard for me to really answer your question there.

But clarity in terms of maybe team makeup, how we want to go about it, if we played against England again, there's a lot of different things there, but any game you play, you certainly take something from it, and we would have taken something from that game.

Q. My question will be do you find any differences in the UAE this time as compared to your last tours, like any difference in the pitches or the conditions like you were playing in the World Cup?

ASHTON AGAR: Any differences in previous tours to the UAE?

Q. Yeah, for the pitches, especially for the pitches.

ASHTON AGAR: No, no big differences. Generally they're a little bit low, a bit slower than what we're used to, and pretty good. I would say that's the type of pitches we've faced so far. Sri Lanka we probably played them on the slowest pitch we've played on yet, Abu Dhabi was a good wicket, and the last wicket against England was also a good cricket wicket to play on.

No real surprises just yet. As tournaments go on, pitches tend to deteriorate, so that's certainly a possibility that we could face coming up, but nothing out of the ordinary. I think the wicket has been pretty good and pretty standard for this part of the world so far.

Q. Last time you played against Bangladesh in Bangladesh, seems it was too difficult to face Mustafizur Rahman and our spinners. Do you think Mustafizur is going to be a threat in tomorrow's game, and what's your plan about Bangladesh's spinners?

ASHTON AGAR: Well, I think the conditions played a huge part in Mustafizur being very difficult to face. The amount of spin he was able to get with his big off-spinning slower ball was amazing. But that relied heavily on the surface that he was bowling on and was the same for the spinners.

Zamps and I both enjoyed bowling on those wickets, as well. I don't think any batters really enjoyed batting out there too much, including the Bangladeshi guys. They were able to put a couple of totals of 120 on the board, but that's not cricket you'll see played too often.

So I think those conditions changing a little bit over here might change a little bit of how the game looks or how it pans out, but we can only be open and ready for whatever reasons we see tomorrow. But I doubt it would be as spin friendly as we saw in Bangladesh.