10 March - Tauranga - Pakistan coach David Hemp pre-match press conference
Reporter: Just wondering with Tabanga being basically your base for the first half of the tournament – how good has it been to be in the one spot and have that rhythm of playing multiple games in one venue without having to chop and change around the country?
Coach David Hemp: Yeah it's actually been really helpful for us as a group. Obviously we're not chopping and changing the hotels all the time or flying anywhere. So it's been nice, certainly beautiful place as well which helps but the training facilities have been great and the people and the hotel are excellent – so we’ve been really pleased to be situated at this one location for this part of the trip.
Reporter: For South Africa - this is your first international assignment with Pakistan against South Africa. Since then, getting game time is something you have always insisted on and Pakistan is among the few teams that made it to quite a few bilateral series in the lead up to the World Cup- how do look at the last 18 months leading up to the World Cup and the way this campaign has gone so far - as the preparation is being reflected on the way this tournament is going so far for you?
David: Look in terms of the preparation, we've been certainly we've been fortunate to get plenty of games through the COVID period. So we’re a little bit fortunate there. We managed to get across to South Africa first last January, then to Antigua in June -July, five games and then we had the West Indies visit us before the qualifiers in December. So we've had plenty of games in terms of preparations – In terms of our preparation and where we are now in terms of how we’re playing, obviously, we're disappointed with the results so far, because we feel like we haven't played as well as we know can. So we’ve defined a couple of overs that obviously we need to sharpen up and get back - and in terms of preparation we’ve certainly been pleased - we had obviously two more games that we won - again there are elements of that that went particularly well, there's elements that we need to get better at, but in terms of the preparation we’ve been really pleased.
Reporter: Through this year and a half - one of the constant troubles has been the top order and often Pakistan have found themselves at 70 odd for 4 wicket with Aliya and Nida in the middle – what kind of conversation have you been having with the top order batters, you know, because they've been struggling to perform consistently and convert the starts they're getting into a big score.
David: Yeah look – in terms of the combination at the top - unfortunately, we found ourselves in certain situations where we have tried several players, we've got players that are improving their games, but in terms of actually cementing a spot- we've come up with various combinations at the moment, we still have to look at those combinations. So that's unfortunately, some of those players, 1 or 2 have experience, one or two are learning the game. And again, like anything that takes a bit of time for players to get the confidence to build into a role. So that's where we are at the moment. It’s certainly been a little bit more reliant on four, five and six and seven, which have played consistently well over the last eight to nine months. But the opener opening roles and the top three roles have certainly been an area where we've given people an opportunity and we are trying to find the right combinations of those players.
Reporter: Just to follow up on the previous question - what exactly are you working on with the top order because I know during tournament, it's probably difficult to make technical changes, but you know, what kind of tactical conversations or strategic conversations are you having with your top order batters?
David: Look, I guess for them, it's more around decision making. So we certainly got players that are capable of batting but that is a challenge, because you’ve got the new ball, the new ball moves. And it's just you know, when you're playing - we had 14 games last year but when you're playing a series of three games, then you don't play for two or three months. You work in between on facing the new ball and what does it mean to face a new ball. But again, conditions have varied from grounds that we played at - so again, it's a new challenge. So it's dealing with all those things that go into batsmanship. So conversations are particularly around the tempo of an innings and how you actually construct the innings I think some of our players are working through that to – knowing what their games are and the strengths of their games, but then how to adapt those strategies on certain wickets against certain types of bowlers. Because obviously we’ve got to take that into consideration.
Reporter: I suppose the lack of runs or the non-performance of the batters - Have you ever kind of been tempted to maybe play a seventh or an extra batter in the side because I mean, and how would that how do you think that would kind of hamper the bowling options because you do have a few bowlers who probably cannot contribute as much with the bat. So have you been tempted to do something like that?
David: Yeah, we have done - we did that in the Caribbean. So Sidra Nawaz – the current ‘keeper missed out again, because we felt we needed to add strength or depth to the batting lineup. We actually played seven batters with Muneeba Ali keeping wicket – but Sidra Nawaz is a very good keeper, so it's important for us that when we are presented with opportunities that we do take them and Muneeba is still learning that particular skill - so she's not a bad keeper but a scenario that she's working on to develop. Look - the opening combinations that we’ve used – Muneeba’s opened over the year - Her career stats over the last year, stats over the last year, are actually higher than her career stats -she's shown improvement, Nahida Khan has also been in that position, is a very experienced player again - has been in and out the side because of consistency - similar to Ayesha - who is not with us, and Sidra Amin found her way back to open the game - because of how she's played in the last six months. So we have given players opportunity, but fortunately for us, and for them, they haven't quite cemented their spots at the moment - but they're all more than capable of playing those roles. So just the consistency is the area that sort of we’re trying to iron out, make sure that we give ourselves the best opportunity for that middle order to flourish, rather than have to rebuild all the time. And that's the situation we found ourselves in. Is that at the 4 over mark - we've generally been about four or five, sometimes six weeks down on a regular basis, and then not been allowed to explode in the last 10 overs.