12 February - Paarl - South Africa player Chloe Tryon pre-match press conference
[Reporter]
I'm not sure if you guys are keeping an eye on the other results in your group, but New Zealand also had a heavy defeat last night. What are you guys going to do differently than what you did in the first match against Sri Lanka?
[Chloe]
Obviously, it's a difficult game to lose the way we did. I think as a group, we try not to look into that too much. I think we've been a quality side. We've been playing really good cricket. I think as a batting unit, that one innings didn't define us. So, we just had to kind of park it. It's just kind of doing basics. I just didn't feel as a batting unit we did the right things, no partnerships, no one kind of putting up their hands. So, I think for us, it's just making sure that we're doing those basics right. Obviously, looking at other results, you want to see how the other teams are doing. But I think if we just play our brand of cricket and we kind of keep ticking our boxes, we can come up with those wins. So obviously, a very important game against New Zealand coming up. So, you can't take anyone lightly, as you can see. But it's just important that we just do the right things and let the result take care of itself.
[Reporter]
For you personally, you look like you're really enjoying your game with the bat.
[Chloe]
Yeah, something like that. Yeah, I've always been working really hard. I've been here for like 12, 13 years. It's quite long. But just understanding my role a lot more and being a senior player, just being able to take responsibility a lot more, not just with batting, but just bowling and leadership in the team. So, I just understood my role a lot more and kind of want to win many games for South Africa. So just putting a lot of responsibility on myself and I'm enjoying it a lot.
[Reporter]
And finally, for me, if I can, how is it being in a home World Cup?
[Chloe]
Yeah, it's fantastic. You only get this once in your lifetime. So, look, it's really exciting. The atmosphere at Newlands was amazing. Just looking around, just seeing all the support for women's cricket. We really just want to grow the game. And as you have seen in the last couple of years, it's just been growing from strength to strength. So, I think for South Africa, it's much needed. We just had an Under 19 World Cup, which is great too. So, the growth and seeing the depth in South Africa in women's cricket is really good. So, to have this here and hopefully take that win in the World Cup would be fantastic. But just putting women's cricket on the map in South Africa is really good. So, it's exciting. It's good to play in front of family and friends and kind of just make everyone proud as well.
[Reporter]
I'm sorry about actually the loss other night. If you don't mind, maybe something about Sophie Devine. I know she's very, very dangerous with the bat. And I am sure last night actually she went actually for a duck and after that the things that not went well for New Zealand.
[Chloe]
Yeah, you don't want to take a player like that lightly. You know, she's a very destructive player. We know how she can take a game away from a team the longer she bats. So, it's always important to make sure that we've obviously done our homework on her. Just making sure that we do the right things tomorrow. Yeah, once she gets going, it's quite hard to stop her. So, it's just making sure that we're doing the right things, you know, as bowlers we're bowling in the right areas. Yeah, she's a world class player, and just making sure that we can try and get her out as quick as we can. And also, not get her going because, you know, once she gets going, it's kind of hard to stop. So yeah, just making sure we're doing those small things. Look, they've got a quality line up. So, you know, we don't want to just focus on her. You know, we've got someone like Bates that's been hitting the ball really well. You've got Amelia Kerr coming in, Maddie Green as well. So just making sure that despite us getting her out, we also look at other batters and we know how they can take the game away from a team. So just making sure that we as a bowling unit, bowling our areas, you know, the wicket looks like a really good wicket here as well. So just making sure, yeah, we've got our plans for them.
[Reporter]
Chloe, what was the message from your team of the loss and what will be looking to do different against a formidable New Zealand outfit the players have just mentioned now?
[Chloe]
Yeah, look, obviously we spoke after the game with regards to how we went. You know, it was below average. I think we were all quite disappointed about how we played in Newlands. I think from coming from a tri-series and playing so well, having two really good warm up games and performing like that was not really good. You know, you want to be performing at your best at a World Cup. So obviously we were all disappointed. And yeah, just basically making sure that we left at the end then because we know that we still have three more games coming up. So can't dwell too much on the first game. You know, obviously we wanted to win that first game, but obviously what happened has happened. So, you know, what we can control now is how we go about our next couple of games. You know, every game is very important. So, the focus is on making sure that we're doing the right things, a big game against New Zealand and then going into Australia. So, yeah, the message was quite clear. I think everyone's on the same page with how we want to go about the rest of the tournament. So just park all of that off and make sure that we are 200 per cent ready to play New Zealand.
[Reporter]
Thank you, Lita. Chloe, I mean, you've spoken about pressure. Do you girls, ladies, feel pressure, I mean, for yourself personally?
[Chloe]
Pressure is always a good thing. You know, sometimes it's not always bad. But look, playing in the World Cup, you're always going to feel a little bit of pressure. You know, there's a lot of expectation on us as a team. But I think we're kind of just trying to control what we can control and that's just doing the right things. We've spoken about playing positive cricket, a really good brand of cricket and showcasing our skill to not just South Africa, the world. So, yes, pressure is always good sometimes. And I think the team's been doing really well with how we've been dealing with it. No one's going too overboard with everything like that. Like I said, we're taking it one game at a time and not really looking too far into the competition.
[Reporter]
Chloe, in that chase in the first match, there seemed to be a sort of sense of panic that kind of took over sort of throughout that innings, not just at the end. I just wondered if you've spoken as a team about how to actually stop that from happening and what role you play in that as a senior player on the side.
[Chloe]
Yeah, obviously it was quite disappointing. It looked a little bit scrambled, but I think as a unit, we spoke about taking responsibility and I felt that none of the batters coming in took responsibility. We always speak about building partnerships and running hard between the wickets, just taking the game as deep as we can. And I just felt like we didn't do that. As a unit, we kind of, I think, looked at the score a bit too much and didn't just play cricket. And I just think as a unit, we were quite disappointed because we've been working really well with regards to building partnerships, running hard between the wickets. So, I don't think we want to look too much into that. Like I said, we parked that off. We've understood what has happened. But I just think applying ourselves, being really positive out there, working in really good partnerships out there would be really good. So, yeah, not looking too much into the last game, but I'm just making sure that we don't make those same mistakes going into the next game.
[Reporter]
As the eldest stateswoman in the team, how do you park it? How do you get the players to like, okay, what happened in the opening match where you have unpacked it, you understand what happened? How then do you de-stress? How do you reset now ahead of New Zealand?
[Chloe]
Yeah, like I said, we obviously discussed what happened in game one. Everyone just said how they felt, what we needed to do better going into the next game. I think everyone understood how we played. It didn't need to be a scientist to know how we played. So, yeah, I think once we discussed that, going into prepping for New Zealand was always big. So, we just knew that we need to start talking about game plans for that and rectifying what we did wrong in the first game going into the next game. So, yeah, obviously took charge about making sure that we have proper plans. We know what we're going to do. I still feel as a bowling unit, we had a really good 10 overs. And then just lost a little bit as well. So, it's just really small key areas that we're just going to change. And also with our fielding, like just making sure we're saving those extra runs in the field. So, it's always important to do that.
