ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 9, 2021

Kane Williamson

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

New Zealand

Semi Final Pre Match Media Conference

Q. Reflection from yourself on the team's performance through the pole play and a look ahead for the semifinal for us, please.

KANE WILLIAMSON: I think every team coming into the tournament knew that it would be highly competitive. And it's certainly proved to be the case and both poles were very strong. And for us the focus was to try and grow and improve just a little bit from game to game.

And I think largely we've been able to do that reasonably well and adapt to a variety of conditions that we've been faced with and the focus was for us is the same and it was great to qualify and to be here at the moment.

But the focus is obviously the next challenge, which is a great one against England.

Q. Everyone's fit, well, and there's a night training tonight, the final one before the game; is that right?

KANE WILLIAMSON: Yes. Everybody's fit, which is great. And we have a practise and look forward to the match tomorrow.

Q. You got to the same stage in your first tournament as captain five years ago against the same opponent. How far do you think this team has come in those five years?

KANE WILLIAMSON: I suppose there's always the development focus, a great focus as an international side and over a period of time there's a number of players that or personnel that change, whether that's players or support staff.

And I think we've seen that from the last tournament to this one. And then you throw in different conditions. And everybody has those challenges. But there have been some really good steps forward and this tournament compared to the last one, I suppose a few new faces and a real mixture of that sort of youth and experience.

But, yeah, it's been a nice journey, I suppose from five years ago. And it's nice to be here and be involved in the semifinals. But the guys are really looking forward to the challenge and want to continue to focus on the cricket that we've been playing and try and improve on it.

Q. Five years ago two guys who didn't play a lot were Trent Boult and Tim Southee, two veterans on this team. How important have they been in this tournament getting the team off to good starts off with the ball?

KANE WILLIAMSON: They've been brilliant. They've been involved in the team in all formats for a long time and really experienced operators for us. And experienced in terms of playing in all different conditions. And have been executing their skills beautifully and performing their realize to the highest standards. They've been doing a fantastic job for us, really leading our attack who have been performing well and adjusting well to the different surfaces that we've been on. And a real strength on our side.

Q. Why do you think you're going to be able to get the win tomorrow night?

KANE WILLIAMSON: I suppose whenever you play a game of cricket, you're focusing on the important parts to your game that give you the best chance. And no doubt England will be doing something very similar. And both teams have been playing well throughout the tournament.

It should be a really good game of cricket. And coming into the competition, every side has match winners which makes way for a really exciting event and we've seen that throughout the last sort of three weeks.

It's great to be here in the finals. For us it's going out and playing our game, expressing ourselves and committing to those little things that give us the best chance. But England are a very strong side and have been playing really well. It should be a really good game of cricket.

Q. Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway have sort of adapted to new roles in the flight, but before that they've been doing well at domestic cricket. You may have played with Daryl. Could you talk about how the domestic structure has kept these guys international-ready, especially at this tournament?

KANE WILLIAMSON: I mean, someone like Devon has played this sort of role for us, anyway, on the New Zealand team for a while. He's a very experienced player. Although relatively new to the international game, but clearly world-class in his skill set and a fantastic head on his shoulders. He's made those adjustments really quickly and come over to the UAE, which is his first time, and played some really key roles for us.

And Daryl, who has been involved in a number of formats and has brought a brilliant attitude and I suppose coming into the tournament everybody's preparation perhaps a little bit disjointed and Daryl's given himself an opportunity to be at the top of the order with his ability to hit the ball hard and straight and also play spin.

And he's come into the side and basically grabbed every opportunity in any format with both hands. And him and Guptill at the top of the order got us off to some really nice starts.

Q. You're someone who is sort of vicious hitting balls into the nets, but your elbow has limited your training into the net. How do you find that balance on the front between sort of limiting yourself in training and keeping yourself fresh for the game?

KANE WILLIAMSON: That has been a bit of a challenge for me personally. And the balance between the loading of the elbow and things like that to try and stay as fresh as possible for the game. So it's a bit of a delicate balance to get my head around.

I certainly look forward to the day that it's gone and I don't have to worry too much about it. But as it stands, it's a topic of discussion and just trying to work closely with the physio to make sure in the games you're as fresh as possible. But it's had an impact on loading therefore meaning training sort of been a little bit -- a lot less, to be fair.

Q. Wanted to ask about the opponents. Obviously a team that you know so well. Played a lot of cricket against them in recent times. At the start of England's white ball success, they really suggested they took a leaf out of New Zealand's book the way you played white ball cricket under Brendon in 2015. Since then they beat you in the semifinal of 2016, 2020 World Cup and 2019 World Cup final. Do you kind of feel like now's your time and you kind of feel like if they've copied your template, now it's time for the masters to show what it's all about?

KANE WILLIAMSON: Look, we've played each other a number of times. We've had some really good games in really good series. The evolution of the England side and particularly the white ball side's been significant over a number of years. And have got a lot of experienced T20 players on their side.

As a collective, they're playing some really good cricket. We know it's a nice challenge that we're looking forward to. And both teams try and utilize what they have to the best of their ability and try and play their best cricket. You turn up on the day and there's been no particularly in this format it's fickle in its nature and both teams will go out to look to put their best foot forward and what will be will be at the end of it. But for us it's been a real growth focus.

Although, it was like I mentioned slightly disjointed and preparation at the start. It's been sort of one game at a time and trying to adapt and make those small improvements throughout the competition as quickly as we could.

It meant that the team have been ticking over reasonably nicely and watching from afar England have been doing something very similar, playing some really good cricket. So it should be a really good contest come tomorrow.

Q. I know you know each other very well. And I think there's probably going to be six on each side that played in the 2019 final, for example. But what about the guys that maybe you don't know very well Liam Livingstone, do you know much about him and what he might bring to the party? And how are you going to prepare for that threat?

KANE WILLIAMSON: Look, they've got match winners throughout their team. And that's been a big, I suppose, movement of their white ball side. Power packed and bat deep as well.

I spent quite a bit of time with Liam at Birmingham Phoenix, played superbly well through the 100 ball competition. There are a number of threats and number of match winners. We also have a number of match winners as well.

At the end of the day it's trying to commit to what you do as a team, and we both do it a little bit differently. And that constantly changes just over time and personnel changes and all these sorts of things.

And I think both teams are just looking forward to the occasion. It's been a long time coming. This next T20 World Cup. It's been exciting to be involved in it. And obviously it's all coming to a quick end and we've got the semifinal and all going well. Hopefully another game after that.

Q. You're world Test champions. You came as near to winning the T50 World Cup and now you're two games away from the T20 World Cup. What is it that you keep getting so right as a team?

KANE WILLIAMSON: I mean, for us as a team, we're always trying to improve and commit to what is important to us as a team. And that forever changes a little bit. And I suppose over the years you look back to perhaps the last T20 World Cup. There's been a few personnel changes, and I suppose that's the same on all sides.

But for us, our thoughts, our environment is something that is important. But it doesn't promise. It's been nice to be involved in some memorable games in recent times. But the focus for the sides sort of was the bigger picture and trying to make those small adjustments and it's nice that the side have largely been tracking pretty well in that respect.

Having said that, you turn up in finals cricket and especially in T20 cricket on the day. It's match winners throughout and anything can happen. But it's exciting and the players are really looking forward to the occasion.

But largely for us it's just always trying to improve and give to the people around us.

Q. And England are without Tymal Mills, which you already knew about, and Jason Roy ruled out yesterday. Does that make them slightly more vulnerable than they would have been otherwise?

KANE WILLIAMSON: They're both big players for England. It's a real shame that they have suffered injuries in this competition. But I think one of the strengths as well of the England side is their depth that they've managed to produce over a period of time and having spent some time at the Birmingham Phoenix and being sort of a little bit involved in that 100 ball comp and you can tell that there's a huge amount of talent throughout.

They're still very much a very strong side who have been playing some really good cricket.

Q. The momentum of the New Zealand team is in for the especially large two ICC tournaments. How do you feel special to lead the side, the special group of boys from New Zealand. How do you feel as a captain to lead these kinds of guys, the players which you are leading as well?

KANE WILLIAMSON: Great group of players. And all the three formats there's a lot of buy in and a real common goal amongst the guys in the group, which you feel fortunate to be a part of. And it's also great that there's a number of other leaders in the group that offer so much and help drive the team forward.

It's a real collective effort, and that's support staff included.

Q. If Jason hadn't gotten injured, you would be able to play them with a fair degree of certainty for what team England were going to pick. But without him, they're going to be forced into a reorganisation and you're not quite sure what that's going to look like. Has his injury, obviously it's weakened England, but has it also made your approach to the semifinal, your tactical planning, more difficult? And if so, how? If not, why, I suppose?

KANE WILLIAMSON: You're right, I suppose whenever there's an injury, there's someone else comes in and you're not to know who they are until the toss. But you try and prepare and plan as best you can and then when you go out there you're sort of competing in the moment.

And that kind of all matters then. But Jason's a big player for England and has been playing really nicely and getting the team off to good starts along with Jos. But as I mentioned, the depth on the England side is one of their strengths and we'll try and plan accordingly to the best of our ability.

But largely want to focus on the sort of cricket that we want to play as a group and keep developing on that as we've been doing throughout this tournament.

Q. Coming into this T20 World Cup, sort of predicted given the conditions Asian teams will be having an upper hand. But as we see the semifinals line up, just only one Asian team is into the last four. How much do you think IPL has contributed in terms of sort of nullifying conditions factor?

KANE WILLIAMSON: The IPL and I suppose the other franchise comps, but certainly add a lot to the knowledge of the players from all countries. And also add to the experience of being able to share and I think we've seen in this tournament and we certainly saw in the second half of the IPL the variability and the surfaces which, like you mentioned, perhaps lent itself more naturally to certain sides.

But you sort of in the moment you compete in different games and the margins are fine. And we know coming into this tournament that truly any team could beat anybody and we sort of saw that throughout the competition and there are some sides that perhaps were favourites coming into it.

And we're fortunate on the day but I suppose that's tournament sport as well. And it made way for what has been and will continue to be a really action packed and exciting competition.

So it's great we feel fortunate to have got through the stages and been playing some reasonable cricket and we want to continue to.

Q. Going back over the meetings with England, particularly in the big competitions, I suppose in particular the 50-over, you were extremely magnanimous after that defeat. When you look back does it feel in some ways as the one that got away?

KANE WILLIAMSON: I mean, it was an amazing game of cricket. And obviously sort of late in the stages it was highly competitive and a few things perhaps didn't quite go our way towards the end of the game. And that's sort of the way that it was.

And naturally there were some rules and bits and pieces that fell another way and decided the result. But in terms of our commitment to what we wanted to do that was there and that's how we like to try and measure ourselves and I know the added context around finals and these sorts of things.

And everybody's got a different opinion on it, you know, to have ties and boundary counts and all these sorts of dramatic things that decide some matches or not so much anymore.

But it was an amazing game to be a part of. And certainly all the guys that when it does come up in conversation it's looked back on fondly and appreciate that experience. Although, at the time the aftermath was very difficult to understand and perhaps didn't make a lot of sense.

But that is what it is. And you sign up. You play by the rules and you move on and you look forward to the next challenges. And as a group they continue to come thick and fast and that's where we like to put our focus. And not long after that was some Test cricket focus. And now we're at a T20 World Cup, and the cricket just continues to roll on.