ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 18, 2022

Bas de Leede

Kardinia Park

Netherlands

Post Match Media Conference

Netherlands - 122/5, Namibia - 121/6

Q. How difficult was the surface, what made it tough scoring from a batting perspective?

BAS DE LEEDE: The surface was a little bit too paced in a way where the quicker balls that skidded through stayed quite low, and then you had the odd, slow ball which held. So I guess it was tough to really hit through the line. It was more of a nudgy-type surface, where you tried to play as straight as you can because you didn't want to get found out by the skitty one.

Q. Did that make the chase hard? You put yourself in a tough position, looked like Tom tried to come out to ice it with some balls. Unfortunately a missed hit. And suddenly trying to claw your way there, a really difficult process. Could you talk through what you were thinking out of the middle?

BAS DE LEEDE: Obviously Tom came in with a clear plan, which didn't work out. And I thought to myself, well, if we can take this deep, it's a five-over, six-over chase. The main focus there was not losing any more wickets, which didn't really happen.

But in five-over, six-over, it takes one boundary to get us ahead, always tried to get as deep as we could. And pretty much wait for the one ball you could hit.

Q. As a group, what do you take away from two really tight nervy wins where you've held your nerve and been able to get over the line, what kind of confidence does that breed within the group?

BAS DE LEEDE: Obviously very nice to walk away with two wins here, but I think it's also, learning from us, to see -- I think both games we've had two good power plays, and how do we get to those middle overs without losing too many wickets but still scoring at the rate we want to be, to be able to chase possibly a higher total-- set our higher total against Sri Lanka on Thursday. A bit of confidence, but also trying to look at the things we can do better.

Q. The bowling group has been sensational. Quick send of spinners. What have you done well on this surface as a unit and how do you execute your skills?

BAS DE LEEDE: I think for all of the bowlers, the more simple we can keep it, the better it is on the surface. You don't have to have three or four different balls on a surface like this. If you can nail your length, and you can nail a slow bowl, you pretty much -- I wouldn't say unplayable -- but tough to face. For us, it was great we didn't go searching too much and just stuck to what we know.

Q. What was your final thought going into that last over, what were you thinking and how to attack it?

BAS DE LEEDE: It was either going to be, if we bowled a great bowl, I would try to get strike, bring more strike.

I was setting up to hit towards a shorter boundary. And he had two options, either go yorker or space off. And luckily he gave me a bit of width that I could hit over the infield. I think it skidded on quite a bit. It was just nice to get that boundary early up and then almost stuck. The pressure, yeah, it goes away a bit.

Q. Sigh of relief on that?

BAS DE LEEDE: 100 percent. 100 percent. And even getting the two at the end, I wasn't sure if Pringle would make it back. But he did. It was probably even better.

Q. Mentioned the bowling group. Obviously this is a big game, what are you guys planning to work on, what are you liking so far from the first two games, and what do you have to work on going forward?

BAS DE LEEDE: Just the bowling group or batting?

Q. In general.

BAS DE LEEDE: I think bowling group, twice we've held a team for around 120. So there's not much we can work on there. We're taking wickets in the power play, which we set out to do. The depth has been amazing and the spinners controlling the middle, not too much to complain there, I think.

But batting-wise, getting out of that power play with two good starts now, and then losing wickets in clusters, so how can we rebuild when there is a wicket and not just -- I think we might be a bit too aggressive on a pitch like this. If it's a flat pitch, it's a different game. Probably getting to 10, 15 runs first and accelerating from there.

Q. Are you guys eventually chatting, I guess, about the confidence building, do you feel it's building as you go along?

BAS DE LEEDE: Yeah, definitely. I mean, winning two World Cup games is not going to do your confidence any harm. So definitely taking it into the next game. But like I said, there's plenty of learnings as well there. I think we're best off not getting ahead of ourselves and kick on to the next game with a clear mind.

Q. Taking you back to your thoughts on the pitch. To compare the two pitches. They suddenly look quite different from the press box. How would you describe the difference between Sunday's pitch and this one?

BAS DE LEEDE: I think Sunday's pitch had a bit more grass on it. So it was more slower, in general. And then the other one, there was a bit of turn off, even with the slow balls, they stuck quite a bit. This one looked like it had no grass at all. And there was some cracks on the surface, which means it's dry. I think that's where the top part almost sometimes soaked up the bounce of the ball and that's why it skidded on. But definitely two different surfaces. Nice to get over the line both days and see us at depth.

Q. You guys have been playing hard, competitive cricket. And the teams that are already in the Super 12 are missing (indiscernible). Do you think there's got to be an advantage to be gained from winning the hard games going into -- if you do get into the Super 12?

BAS DE LEEDE: Yeah, definitely -- I think there's definitely an advantage taking the momentum, that if we do go through to the next round, taking it with us.

But also feel, obviously, playing three games at high energy, there's adrenaline going through your body. The body is going to get tired. I think that might be slightly more disadvantage for us having played three games already going into what's about to be another five games if we make it through.