ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 6, 2021

Kyle Coetzer

Sharjah Stadium

Scotland

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow's game, obviously Babar and Rizwal as an opening partnership for Pakistan, can you give us some thoughts on those two players?

KYLE COETZER: What a challenge we're going to be faced with. An exciting one as well. Two players at the top of their game at the moment. So it would be great to experience that and hopefully try and knock a few of them over at the same time.

We have to go in there respecting them but also willing to go and try and take them on, too. I think we've taken a few learnings from our last couple of games and some special learnings from yesterday's game.

Q. Do you feel the guys have got enough left in the tank for just one more last effort?

KYLE COETZER: Definitely. We've got plenty left in the tank yet in this group. We had a tough experience yesterday. But I firmly believe having to go through that and go through some of these performances out here to realize how far and how much further the T20 format has developed, even since the last time we played in it, which was 2016, I think.

And we didn't manage to get through the group stages then, but we did this time around. So we're sure our development is there. But that the development of the game is moving at an amazing rate.

And just the conversations following the game yesterday versus India have been positive; the fact that we're so disappointed losing the manner in which we did and the opportunities that were created to go and speak to some of the finest players in the world yesterday was a real special moment.

The guys have learned more in the last two or three games than they have in probably the last three, four years, I reckon.

Q. You mentioned that obviously the India players were chatting to you guys afterwards. That was quite nice.

KYLE COETZER: Of course it was. I think guys have had small opportunities to speak to various players from various teams during this tournament, but it's been made a little bit harder by the not being able to mix as easily in this tournament. So that's just one of the challenges that we're faced with.

But the opportunity to go and speak to the India team yesterday was a moment that some guys will probably never forget but also learned so much from.

You've got young players in there like Michael Jones getting a chance to speak to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. And there's some amazing names obviously in there. And we've got to find ways to raise our bar and try and compete with them as best as we possibly can in the future.

That's the first time we've ever played India on the world stage. So hopefully we won't have to wait that long to play them again. But I'm confident that we'll grow from this experience.

Q. It seemed that the top order hasn't really quite clicked in unison in the Super 12s, but there were signs, there were encouraging signs against New Zealand. And what do you put it down to? And how crucial has it been having Jonathan Trott as a batting consultant for this tournament?

KYLE COETZER: Obviously having Trotty with us and prior to the World Cup was really helpful gaining some experience from him, some of his challenges that he faced as a cricket player and just small insights here and there. He was fantastic to have around.

Yes, the batting group hasn't fired since getting out through the group stage. But leading up to that, the batting group have done brilliantly.

But it's clear to see that the levels have improved. And what we've noticed, it's not only has batting been tricky in this tournament because of conditions, not saying that people can't score runs, because that's certainly happened in a few games.

But the standard and the skills and the plans that bowlers come out with now have developed so far since the last time we've played ion this world stage. So we have to experience that, take it in and try to learn as fast as we can.

If we are going to continue thinking about the game, yes, we think in a positive manner, but if we are going to thinking about the game in which we do, we'll fall behind.

There's lots of skill amongst this group. The learnings we'll take from these games are going to be huge. Yes, we haven't performed where we would like to, but I think we've been showing up by the skills, I'm sure.

Q. Final game tomorrow, what's your message to the squad?

KYLE COETZER: Yes, we've got to make sure we go in there with as much confidence as we possibly can do. We've got one last show, one last crack of the whip while we're out here. We're not going to play together for a long period of time. We're not going to play together until April probably.

We have to make every opportunity of every game that we get. And what better game and what better team to play against than Pakistan. They're at the top of their game at the moment. That's just an ultimate test and to challenge yourself against them.

We'll go in there with as much enjoyment and freedom as we possibly can and try and make the most of the opportunity. We have some skills we haven't yet shown in the Super 12s. So tomorrow is the last chance we get to show them.

Q. From your Instagram, it seemed as if you were to do (indiscernible), is that something we might see tomorrow?

KYLE COETZER: I was a little bit on the wind-up with that. But bowling in early April in England and Scotland is very different to turning up to try to bowl at Sharjah. I might give it a miss.

If ever I do get a chance to bowl, obviously I'm not going to turn it down. I love my bowling. But not quite at this level. We've got the proper bowlers on our team to do the job.

Q. Lighter note, if you look back, what were the high points for Scotland as a group? Anything you'd like to share with us?

KYLE COETZER: We've had some great memories on this trip so far. We hopefully still have a few more to be made.

The experience of playing under pressure, which we're not short of playing under pressure experience, but having to compete and win the games in Oman in the first group stage -- Oman is an excellent venue and they hosted that group stage very well. And getting through that.

I think the context of beating Bangladesh for us was the context around that of it being in a world event was a huge moment for this team. We've beaten full member teams before. But like I said, the context around that made that even more special.

And then coming up against a really strong Oman team in a must-win game, obviously we had to win all three of the games to make sure we got through Super 12s. So that was a great achievement.

But I think the one of the best experiences and what I think players will learn most out of is trying to mix with some of these players from some of these top nations has been very special.

And that moment going into the India dressing room yesterday was a real highlight, I think, for us and our team, because I honestly believe what we spoke about in that dressing room will leave us in a much better place.

I think players have learned far more from that 20 minutes than we have done in a few years. I think we're learning all the time, but those moments, they're like gold and you need to make the most of those.

So a huge thank you to the Indian team for that. That was a really special moment.