ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 5, 2021

Jimmy Neesham

Sharjah Stadium

Namibia

Post Match Media Conference

New Zealand - 163/4 (20), Namibia - 111/7 (20)

Q. Can you talk us through the conversations in the middle, quite a tough pace to start. Did you have an idea of what might be defendable?

JIMMY NEESHAM: Yeah, we sort of talked throughout the innings as a group what we think is par and we were sort of discussing from the halfway point that anything over 150 would be a really good score.

So yeah, when we came out there, it was just about trying to get underway and try to get used to the surface and sort of hope that we could make it up at the back end there. Yeah, obviously me and GP have batted together quite a lot and know each other's games quite well and we knew with that short side if we could get in and have the left hand, right hand competition going at the end, one could be trying to attack and the other one could be basically trying to give the other one a strike and ended up working quite well.

Q. In terms of the pitch, you've played a fair bit around the world, was it a case of using experience of pitches with low bounce to take them in today?

JIMMY NEESHAM: We knew it was the kind of surface that you're sort of eight, nine, ten, 11 would struggle to come out and hit on. I think sometimes when you play on surfaces back in Australia, New Zealand, England, white ball surfaces you can bat guys like Adam Milne and Tim Seifert can come out and for ten or four or ten or three at the end.

We knew it was a little bit challenged, a little bit slow and two-paced that we and Glenn would have to be the guys to take us that length deeper. As we see it, anything over that 150 was the first port of call and once we could guarantee that, it was about trying to see what we could get after that.

Q. How is Ish Sodhi doing after the blow he took on the field?

JIMMY NEESHAM: Yeah, he's good. Ish is a pretty tough customer. So yeah, we took them off at end there more as give him a bit of break and a bit of a rest. Only one day before the Afghanistan game. Obviously with the the concussion protocols, I assume can he'll be monitored but we are expecting him to be fine.

Q. How aware were you of the fact that there were 1.4 billion or so Indians cheering on?

JIMMY NEESHAM: Somewhere between zero and one percent. We are pretty good as a unit at sort of keeping what's necessary to concentrate on in the front of our minds. There's been a few occasions I know the last couple of months where there's been a lot of people talking a lot about us off the field so it doesn't bother us too much.

It's just about going on the field and getting done what we had to get done and obviously there are a few different permutations around run rate as well. But for us it was about winning the game and go on to Afghanistan in a couple days.

Q. You and Glenn ran ten twos while you were out there. How important was that in terms of creating a bit of pressure?

JIMMY NEESHAM: Extremely important. When you play on a surface like that it's not going to be like in Dunedin or Eden Park. You're not going to hit four or five boundaries in ten balls. It's a lot more about trying to put pressure on balls in different ways. We were talking after the game, we got mid 70s, 74, 72 or something after the last five overs. Certainly a different way of skinning the cat.

But we sort of knew as I mentioned earlier, anything over that 150 would be a challenging total and GP is obviously a pretty quick customer, so it was a bit of a challenge for me to keep up with him. But old legs still have a bit of pace, so it was good.

Q. From your perspective, how good was it to have a decent bat? Obviously haven't had to do much so far at this World Cup but good to be able to contribute no doubt.

JIMMY NEESHAM: Yeah, it's the nature of how we play our T20 cricket to be honest. I think even back in New Zealand, I don't have the stats in front of me. I can't imagine I would have faced more than 20 balls very often for New Zealand. It's all about trying to load up the back end with wickets in hand and come out and be explosive, that's just the nature of the game and the game.

In this team, I'm batting a lot on the net at the moment and Luke Ronchi is putting a lot through his shoulder for me to keep the neck off the park and away from the game. It's just about being as free as I can be and as clear as I can in my game plans when I do get out there.

The nature of being that No. 6 all-rounder is that you're going to be tasked with the game when the game is in hand, so there's going to be pressure situations whether it's today or a semifinal or a final moving forward. I'm all ready for that and certainly no excuses.

Q. You mentioned the run rate, pretty simple, win on Sunday and you're in the semifinals. Is it good to have some parity in that regard? You're trying to win every match but you now know it's going to be a simple case of getting the rut?

JIMMY NEESHAM: Yeah, honestly, there's been a lot to talk about from the outside, even for us, before the very first game of the tournament, we knew it was not going to be win over here in Pakistan and win the rest of the games and you're through. It's a pretty simple equation.

We've been focussed on each game as it comes and there was certainly zero disrespect to Namibia or Scotland from a world rankings point of view going into each game. We knew all teams have enough quality to knock anybody over on the day. For us it's about going out and taking care of our games. I'm sure at the start of the tournament, if we had been offered a virtual quarterfinal against Afghanistan the last game, we would have taken that.

We'll prepare for the next game just as we have the three or four leading up to it and hopefully we can be on our game again in a couple days.

Q. You've obviously come through these two matches with Namibia and Scotland, must be good to have a that in the middle of a tournament.

JIMMY NEESHAM: Yeah, that's always a thought in each camp, isn't it, if teams struggle to win four or five down and the tail end needs the bat and then people say they are not on top of the game; and if they win one or two down, they say middle order doesn't have any batters.

So there's always going to be people finding a reason that you're not on form or you're not going very well. For us, we are confident the way we go about our game. We have a settled team now and we can move forward and prepare for each game as I mentioned as we always do. Whether it's Gupi hitting a hundred again or me and Tim Southee trying to finish off innings, we've had plenty of experience with both of them the last couple of years, so we certainly won't be worried either way.

Q. How is the Dubai bubble affecting the team?

JIMMY NEESHAM: Yeah, it's certainly less than ideal. You know, when I look back at that 2019 team that won the World Cup in England, guys were going off and having time away from the team and rejoining and everyone was always fresh mentally. Whereas this tournament's been a lot more about spending more time with guys, being in each other's pockets all the time.

So I think that's where the culture of the team becomes really important. We are really fortunate. We have a bunch of guys that really like each other's company. Certainly a strong culture as far as ones I've been a part of. A lot of table tennis and coffee and that sort of thing going on. You're certainly looking forward to touching down home whenever that time comes again, but we certainly have our eyes firmly focused on the task here.

Yeah, it's just a case of getting through each game and there's only a couple of weeks left or so now, so it's not too much of a concern.