ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 27, 2022

Matthew Mott

Melbourne Cricket Ground

England

Post Match Media Conference

Q. I suppose after last night, is this way (indiscernible) or what did you say after?

MATTHEW MOTT: It was clearly a disappointing result. We were a bit stunned last night. I think all day in those sort of games the weather does play a little bit of a trick with your minds.

And I think on reflection, we're probably a little bit tentative as a group. I think we're tentative with the ball in the power play. And I thought Ireland played really well.

I was really pleased with our back end. I thought we pegged them back to (indiscernible) them out, so that score was a good the result was good in the second half. (Indiscernible) it's early. We played behind the game most of the game.

With the benefit of hindsight we probably all would have liked to get in front of DLS a little bit earlier but it wasn't to be. I think the intent was there. We didn't hit the ball well. And Ireland bowled well to the conditions.

Q. With such a short turnaround, will there be changes or anything? What can you say to kind of pick the guys up?

MATTHEW MOTT: Not really. I don't think there will be any changes. I think those games, you've got to park pretty quickly. I think it was a pretty somber dressing room last night. I thought Ben Stokes spoke really well about we haven't got the opportunity to dwell for too long. We're playing in a big match tomorrow.

And we've just got to get up and about. I think we've got a session in here today that for us it's about just a different mindset now. We don't have the luxury now of losing another game. We're playing against the host, the defending champions, so there's no need for us as a coaching group to motivate the group. I think they'll take stock. They'll play well and come out firing in the next game.

Q. Are you mindful of rain again tomorrow? And if so would you do things differently if there were rain again?

MATTHEW MOTT: We can't control that. We couldn't control it last night. And we won't in the next game.

What we've got to do is stay in the moment. I think we've have had a really good month of cricket. We had a bad day yesterday. That happens. T20 is a very fickle game. We were probably one shot away from winning that game, which probably wouldn't have been a fair result to be honest. I thought Ireland was a better team yesterday.

But we were one shot away from (indiscernible) an unlikely victory. With that said, with the batting depth we had, had the game gone the distance I think we would have had a good chance of winning as well.

But that's the nature of the beast. It's worked for us a little bit over the last month. We've gone over the line in other games. We can't dwell. You just can't dwell on T20 results.

Q. Matt, you said probably no changes to the team. But do you think there might be some room for manoeuvre in terms of the way you shuffle your cards? You just alluded to the fact you didn't get Liam and Moeen into the game early enough. Obviously the guys batting above maybe chewed up too many balls, not getting ahead of the DLS. Might be a need for change there?

MATTHEW MOTT: Yeah, there always is. We have those conversations all the time on the bench. Sometimes it's like sliding doors moments. As captains and coaches, you think of a lot of things and you've got to pull the trigger.

And I thought the intent was there yesterday. I think it was clearly some tricky conditions. I think had they been patting the ball back it would have been different. But it was genuine intent. Unfortunately just couldn't get their hands on it.

When see someone like Moeen come out, who is a highly skilled player, just whack it like that, there's some things that we would have done differently, definitely.

Q. Do you get a sense that under the pressure of a World Cup that maybe one or two players are finding life a bit more difficult, I'm thinking maybe of Harry, who has looked absolutely remarkable up until the tournament and in two games maybe decision-making not quite as strong as it had been?

MATTHEW MOTT: Not really. I actually thought he was going to win the game for us last night. I've got real faith in Harry's cricket brain. I think he's a very mature young man.

He took on the big boundary yesterday which I think a lot of even experienced players have tried here and got it wrong. And I think he'll be a better player for that experience.

I think what we did learn last night is in those sort of conditions maybe two is more of an option. There are big boundaries to clear, particularly square. As a batting group we didn't really adapt to that.

When we were quite hitting the ball well I think we needed to sort of take our medicine a little bit, make sure we turn the strike over and get up and down the wicket a little bit. I think we learned that yesterday.

Q. I'll ask about Ben if I may. Obviously he's such a key player. He hasn't played that much T20 cricket. You've got him in at four to try and make the most of him. Is it working?

MATTHEW MOTT: Once again, I think he's an incredible player for our team. I think he's a real leader in our group as well, apart from the official leaders. I thought his bowling has been a real bonus for us. I think a lot of people probably underestimate his bowling coming into this tournament.

And he's been key for us. I think he's bowled some big overs particularly in the power play. With the bat, he hasn't come off yet. But his career would suggest that at some point someone's going to pay a price and hopefully that's Australia in a day's time.

World class player. T20, you miss a lot. But you need match winners of which he's won.

Q. There might be a rejiggering of the batting order?

MATTHEW MOTT: Not likely. I think we played really solid cricket for the last month. We had a bad day yesterday. We're not going throw the baby out with the bath water.

Q. One change means unchanged probably then?

MATTHEW MOTT: We'll have a discussion today, Justin and I will catch up today. Obviously back-to-back games, we'll have to look at how the bowlers pull up. We've got a session this morning.

Certainly it's just business as usual as we would. We'll go through the sessions, see who's pulled up well and make changes. But very unlikely to change the structure of the team. It might be a change here or two depending on how the bowlers pulled up.

Q. How will Friday be for you as an Australia? Now you've got to beat them to keep yourselves in a World Cup which will potentially knock them out?

MATTHEW MOTT: No need for any motivation for me. I've got a lot of friends in that group, both in the playing group and the staff group. But as you find in cricket, you love the one you're with. And I love being part of this group.

It's very special to me. I think in the short time I've been there I've got a lot of really strong allies within our playing group and our support group. We're incredibly motivated.

And yesterday only adds to the motivation. I think it's put us in a spot that we didn't really want to be in. But it's a good spot to be in. If the weather holds I think it's going to be a great game of cricket -- two very good teams going head to head with a lot on the line.

So it's what you play for. It's World Cup. And it's tournament play, which is cut-throat. Not always the best team wins. But hopefully we put ourselves in a position to get over the top of Australia.

Q. What do you think of them? They've obviously have their own issues, the last one Aaron Finch doesn't look to be in the best of form, he'd probably admit. What do you make of them, what do you think about Finch's form?

MATTHEW MOTT: I don't really comment on other teams' players too often. But what I would say is you don't win World Cups at the start. You often lose a game early and sometimes for some teams it is liberating, frees them up to play with a more of an aggressive mindset. I think both teams know what they need to do. Two highly skilled teams going head to head. And it will be small margins. Whoever wins those little key moments will progress to the tournament. There's a lot on the line no hiding from the fact. I think it's exciting, I think everyone wants to see Australia V England MCG. Exciting game.

Q. I guess at this level, the batter is more mental than technical. Defeat like yesterday it can be quite confidence-denting. What do you say to the players ahead of tomorrow night just to make sure they're right mentally to take on Australia?

MATTHEW MOTT: I think most of that was done last night. I think we spoke really well about the game. We knew we didn't play at our best level. I think we were timid. And that's something that hasn't been part of the team for the last six or seven weeks. And the biggest thing we need to do is bounce back really quickly. We've got a lot on the line to play for now. Ireland had a bit of a free hit against us last night. Rain reduced match. They came out and played with a really free spirit. That's what we need to do from here on in.

When we're put in situations where there's a decision to be made, we want to take the aggressive option. And we probably didn't do that last night. And we've got to be honest with that. But it's one game. And good teams bounce back really quickly. And couldn't come at a better time. Quick turnaround. We don't have to travel. We've got a day to lick our wounds and get back and play that cricket we've been playing the last six, seven weeks.

Q. Do you get the sense that within the group there is the confidence still and the belief they can win this tournament?

MATTHEW MOTT: Absolutely, I do. I think that we were hurting last night. There's no hiding away from that. It was a disappointing loss for us. But you know very rarely go through these tournaments undefeated. We dropped a game. We need to play the cricket that we're capable of. And we've got a short turnaround. I expect us to bounce back really well. I thought every level last night we were just down. In the field we were down a bit. With the ball we're down. And clearly with batting we didn't have that other gear. Just gotta bounce. Gotta bounce back.

Q. Ireland seemed to read the conditions better here. Ireland seemed to read the conditions a bit better last night. Was that a failure of analyses from the England dressing room or a failure to communicate it?

MATTHEW MOTT: No, I think they certainly did, they played the conditions really well I think they're more suited to that. They certainly swung the ball a lot from the start. They got wickets in the power play. I think what this World Cup will show if you win the power play, you're a long way towards winning the game. And our powerplay with bat and ball wasn't exactly what we wanted. So you're always playing from behind the game. So our challenge for the next game is to get healed of the game. Make sure that if we've got the ball in hand, we take early wickets and put the opposition on the back foot and conversely with the bat, we got off to a reasonable start because we bat so deep that we've got a lot of firepower to be able to compete with any team in the world. But adaptability is one of those -- it's really short game, obviously. The shorter the game probably the less control you have over the game, the less impact that decision-making and communication does have from the bench and players themselves have just got to make quick decisions out there and assess the conditions. Probably up for you to judge. What did you think?

Q. I thought it was kind of frustrating to watch. I was wondering if it was frustrating for you to watch. Quite experienced players, bowling that length.

MATTHEW MOTT: It was. I think without making excuses, it was quite crazy last night, when we bowled particularly, and the bowlers did all have trouble with their footing. They were the last ones to say they struggling. But it was obvious they were slipping. You get someone like Mark Wood trying to run a ball 150Ks an hour, and he can't really hold his footing, it makes it difficult to execute exactly what you want to do. They didn't shy away from that early. They admitted that after the game. We got our lengths wrong and Ireland made us pay.

Q. On that, there's a ground with a roof two miles away. Should we be playing there?

MATTHEW MOTT: I don't know. It's a difficult one to answer. I think rain is going to play a huge part in this World Cup. I think if you study the weather at all, that's not -- last night is not going to be the only game that's affected like that. Teams just have to adapt. I think we had all the aces last night. We won the toss. We had the advantage of chasing, and we just didn't execute. So when you get opportunities like that you can't miss it.

Q. Winning in chase this year, only won three out of 12, whereas the record batting first is really good, really the opposite what it traditionally has been. Any reasons for those difficulties chasing?

MATTHEW MOTT: No, I can't put my finger on that. Couple of my mates have questioned why we do that. But I think most teams, it takes that one variable where you actually know what the past score is essentially.

In cricket we don't care too much about the toss. When Justin and I speak, we sort of go, we'd like to do this but we don't really care, because the facts are, whatever you do first, you've just got to do it well. As Ireland showed last night, they did well in the first innings. And Duckworth-Lewis is fair. I thought it was fair.

There's a bit of a preconceived idea that there's an advantage to chase when the weather's around. But if you play good cricket, you win the games. And they played better than us last night.

Q. In terms of winning and chasing, anything you could do different? I think you've lost a few sort of middling chases a couple of unimpacted chases, last night. Anything different in those approaches to the chases?

MATTHEW MOTT: No, I think the only thing we got wrong. You've got to be really careful in those chases to don't put all your eggs in the Duckworth basket as well. If we got bowled out trying to get ahead to the rain, we would look silly as well.

I think if the chase had gone the distance I think with the batting we had in the shed we would have found a way. That's one of the things we spoke a lot about. I think the England team has been renowned as highly skilled team for a long time. Part of what we're trying to achieve is in conditions like last night is to find a way to win. We didn't quite achieve that last night. But that's going to be what we need to do in this World Cup. I think it's going to be a very different World Cup because of the weather that we've already spoken about and so that adaptability and that ability to make really quick decisions on the run is going to be crucial in the next few games. So that's where I see our great learnings from last night.

Q. You spoke about (indiscernible) last night. Too timid, lacked intensity. (Indiscernible) made that point they were flat lacked intensity. People will wonder, how is that possible at a World Cup where you can be outskilled. You can be outplayed, but surely being up for a game and being on it is at a bear minimum, how do you explain that as a coach?

MATTHEW MOTT: Not really. Can't explain it. But I thought there was -- rather than being flat, I think there was just a bit of nervousness around last night. I think the weather played a part. I think anyone who has played the game of cricket will understand those emotions that go around when you're not sure you're going to play or not. Not sure you're going to start on time.

And the mind is quite a strong thing in trying to overcome that is difficult. We tried our best to make sure that we were ready and up and about. But you could see in the first six overs we weren't right where we needed to be and we paid a heavy price. I think after that six over, I thought our back ten, if you broke the game up, was outstanding. We bowled them out after being 1 for 92 in the tenth over to bowl them out was an extraordinary effort really. Players like -- you talk about adaptability play like Livingston to come out play the way he bowled in high pressure situation I thought was good for our group.

It wasn't all doom and gloom. I think there were parts of last night where we showed resilience under pressure. Ireland came out, really free spirit, took the game to us. Was slow to react. But we got there in the end and unfortunately the game was stopped short when I think we were starting to wrestle the momentum back.

Q. Where do you think the game against Australia will be won and lost because they've shown that intensity themselves and the way Marcus Stoinis played against Sri Lanka, that aggression that's may be used in T20 cricket, where do you see the balance of power between Australia and England tomorrow?

MATTHEW MOTT: In the games that we played against him, I think obviously we faced two different attacks. I just think it's a great matchup. This is mouth watering matchup for cricket followers. I think all the neutrals will enjoy this game. You've got I think two of the top three or four games going head to head. Australia defending champions at home. We're starting apart from last night starting to play some really good cricket. And the teams match up really well. I think they've both got -- Australia has depth in their batting, as we do. Striking options with the ball. I think Mark Wood is bowling as fast as anyone in the history T20. Some really good contests within that as well. And I think like I said before, I think the powerplay is a huge part of this game, particularly if there's rain shortened matches. If you can start well, get the momentum and hold onto it, that's going to be a big part of winning.