ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

November 1, 2022

Mitchell Santner

The Gabba

New Zealand

Post Match Media Conference

England - 179/6, New Zealand - 159/6

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all for joining us for this press conference of Mitchell Santner.

Q. To what extent do you think the semifinal last year played a part in influencing the way New Zealand approached this chase?

MITCHELL SANTNER: Not much, I don't think. We obviously knew that England are a quality side and a tough opponent. Obviously it was reasonably close in the end, but credit to England, they played a pretty good game.

Q. Do you think the way Kane Williamson had played, was that just because New Zealand still thought there was value to having an anchor around, or was it just England bowled well enough to lot get him away too much?

MITCHELL SANTNER: I think it's the way England bowled. They bowled very well through the middle there. The spinners bowled very well at Kane.

If you look at the partnership, Glenn was going pretty good, and Kane was kind of, like you said, playing the anchor. We got ourself into a good position five or six out, and I think there was a couple of quality overs from Sam Curran and Chris Woakes that took it away from us in the end.

It was a good game. I think there's a lot to take out of this game and I guess move on pretty quick.

Q. Mitchell, just how crucial were those drops of Jos Buttler in the field there at the end?

MITCHELL SANTNER: Yeah, I guess they never help. He's obviously a very, very good player. To put them down a couple times is not easy, but I felt that we were still in a pretty good position. The wicket was pretty good. Obviously it looked like it slowed down a little bit, so we knew the chase was going to be a challenge.

But I think we put ourselves in a pretty good position to get there. We just fell a little bit short with some good death bowling in the end.

Q. How do you approach the next game against Ireland? You need to win to confirm going through to the last four. Does this thin confidence at all, or do you shake it off as going against a good team and you didn't get over the line?

MITCHELL SANTNER: Yeah, I think it's probably the latter. We obviously knew England were going to be a challenge no matter where or when you play them.

I guess we're still in a pretty good position. We'll obviously reflect on tonight, what went well, what didn't go so well, and move on to Ireland in a few days time on a different wicket, different place. They've shown us they're a pretty quality side, so we have to be firing to beat them.

Q. In a nine runs per over game, you and Ish both bowled eight overs for 48, picked up two wickets. What was it that you all did that the spinners from the other side couldn't?

MITCHELL SANTNER: Yeah, I guess it was a slightly slower surface than we were probably expecting, which is obviously nice if you're a spinner. Obviously the length was quite important. There was some big pockets on the ground and then some pretty short sides.

Obviously one end was quite challenging. You had to keep it off the bats and go wide, and the other end was bowl nice and straight.

But I think the English spinners did a great job as well. They had three. I thought Mo probably could have bowled a couple more overs after watching that first one. I think they kind of adjusted pretty well to the surface, a lot of cutters into it.

Obviously Mark Wood does his thing and bowls pretty quick, but then Woakesy and Sam Curran, all those cutters into the wicket make them hit to the big boundaries is a tough option.

I think they were smart how they went about it, and the matchups spin in the power play was obviously pretty key.

Q. Just on Glenn Phillips, when you talk about dropping Jos, obviously he was given another life as well. In the dugout at the time, the way he's been batting, did you feel that while he was out there, there was a chance of chasing it down no matter how big that run rate?

MITCHELL SANTNER: Yeah, for sure. We saw what he did last game. He's a pretty special player and hits kind of funny areas where he's pretty tough to bowl to at times.

We did kind of leave it late, but we had wickets in hand to kind of try to make a surge at the end, I guess once he got out. Then I think Neesham and a few cutters and stuff made it quite hard to score, and it kind of got away from us.

I think, if you look at the position we kind of got ourselves in was a good one. I guess the run rate might have been at 12s, but we still had a few wickets in the tank.

But I think credit goes to the way England bowled there at the end. Woakesy and Sam Curran made it tough to score, and if you can chip wickets out at the end, it kind of dents the momentum.

Q. Just with the pitch, do you think it was the kind of pitch that was difficult to get a start on for the batters?

MITCHELL SANTNER: Yeah, I think so. It was probably slightly slower than we thought, and it looked quite challenging to score to start with. Then obviously once you're in it, it looked like it got a little bit easier.

With the dimensions of the ground, there's some big sides you can kind of bowl what you want out to the big side, and it can be quite a challenge to kind of hit it over the ropes. We thought with chasing that score there was a few 2s out there, and running hard between the wickets and then try to get the odd boundary, but I guess we just came up a little bit short to some quality bowling.

Q. Just as you look towards Ireland, there's been a few sort of topsy-turvy results. Obviously we saw Ireland bake England the other week. How much is it going to have to be to make sure the job gets done and the semifinalist spot is secured.

MITCHELL SANTNER: Obviously a lot. We've seen throughout this tournament there's been upsets. There's been teams playing pretty well. I guess the nature of T20 cricket, if one or two guys step up on the day, they can kind of turn games.

So we know Ireland are a very good team. We're not sure what Adelaide is going to give us, but we'll do our prep and see what we're going to get against and format a plan against a pretty good side.

Q. Just on you and Ish, how happy was it for you two to sort of perform well. There was a lot of talk about matchups with England's left-handers before the match, but you and Ish did a really good job of keeping them in check.

MITCHELL SANTNER: I guess I kind of bowled my four overs before the lefties came in, which was handy.

Yeah, I think, when there's a bit of hold in the wicket and there's kind of a big side, I guess you kind of don't mind bowling to the left if he wants to kind of take on the fielder. It's obviously a risk.

I guess for me it makes it a little bit simpler obviously trying to keep it off the bats to the other side because it can be quite short, then you're bowling out to the big side, you bowl quite straight.

I thought Ish bowled extremely well. The only time he really got hurt was when Jos kind of reverse sweeped him, which it's pretty tough to stop, to be fair.