17 February - Cape Town - New Zealand player Suzie Bates post-match press conference
Thanks everyone for joining us for the post-match press conference with Suzie Bates. We've got members of the media here with us and also on Zoom, so we'll just start with those in the room.
[Reporter]
Hi Suzie, well batted. Sophie sort of joked at the end of the previous game that you guys would need to score 8,000 runs and pull the opposition out for 20. It's not that big, but you must have known the significance of a really big win and do you feel you're sort of back in there now?
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah, it was a hard place to be in because we just wanted to win the game of cricket and I think we knew today the afternoon game we had to bat first and we've talked with this group for the past few months with Ben Sawyer in charge about that 160 target so we thought as a batting group that's the first goal, if we can play the brand of cricket we want to play and we got in a position where we thought we could push closer to 180, 200 so I think we didn't have that goal of getting a massive win, it was more about the process of how we were going to do it and fortunately we put ourselves in a position where we have been able to make some traction on our run rate which keeps us in the tournament and look we'll get a shot that last game to maybe push it a bit further so it's nice to have done what we talked about.
[Reporter]
And then just on your own innings, I mean it must have been really nice after the start you had to the tournament, what did you think of the surface and how did you approach that knock?
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah, I joked in the bus today about having one goal in the game and that was getting off the mark so when I got off the mark first ball I sort of looked up to the dugout and it was a nice feeling and yeah it was just about playing straight for longer today and the wicket really supported that, there was good pace and bounce, it felt like you got value for shot with the outfield so it allowed me to just stand still and play my natural game but a lesson is that's probably when I'm at my best and the first two games you know taking the high risk early or playing across the line that's not you know when I'm at my best so it was nice to talk about that as a batting group and me lead from the front after a tough start.
[Reporter]
Suzie, Sophie promised in Paarl after your second loss a messy 24 hours I think in the wake of that loss and I just wondered you know it's scarcely believable that the team the way you batted today was what we saw in those two games with Pyle, what happened during those messy 24 hours and is this a case of you're just getting yourself together or is it a case of conditions and opposition?
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah look it was probably messier for some than others I think some of our young girls just take it all in their stride and some of the senior players take it a bit harder but we were absolutely gutted as individuals I think the support staff everyone had worked so hard we thought coming over here early and preparing against England was giving us the best chance we have found the wickets tough and then we've played some tentative cricket which is not what we're about so I think everyone took some time maybe a few tears or maybe people got angry and just had a hard look at themselves and you know we reconnected and had two really good days of training and I think yesterday batting on these nets we got our confidence back knowing that this wicket was going to play pretty true and as a batting group we just talked about when we're at our best and not focusing on the opposition so there are a few people that were pretty flat you know that day after but we know as cricketers that it can be a cruel game and you've just got to pick yourselves up and go again or you stop doing it and we love it too much to I guess let those performances affect us and we know we want to make New Zealand proud.
[Reporter]
You go back up the highway to Paul again on Sunday. Is that just how you approach it now that you've got points on the board and then back in contention?
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah we've got another night game out there and look I think that wicket it's even more important to play straight and if we look at how South Africa and Australia batted against us they hit hard strong shots down the ground whereas we played a bit square and tentative so that we've got some confidence from playing like that here and now it's learning to do that on a slightly slower wicket but yeah fingers crossed that you know we can hit the ball hard and straight and for a bit longer than we have out there and look we love playing out there the atmosphere is great it's a beautiful place so we've kind of got to get that out of our heads now.
[Reporter]
Can I just ask how Sophie was in after those last two games she seemed like really upset when she was with us you know mixture of angry and very disappointed how was she with you guys?
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah look I've probably stayed out of the media side of things and didn't see how she was but I had heard that she got pretty upset and after the game we were both pretty distraught and sort of tried to get together to work out how we were going to move forward as leaders of this team but look she takes everything pretty tough you know she's been one of our best players and she knows that when she performs for the white ferns you know we beat teams she's that good so she was frustrated I think it's been really hard for her but it's amazing that she's actually playing she had a stress fracture in her foot so for her to do the hard work to get here is kind of unbelievable but then she's not been able to perform but she's had such limited cricket so it's sort of understandable and it's a shame the rest of us couldn't step up but look she picked herself back up as a leader the energy around the group when we started training was brilliant but I'm sure she had you know some tough moments in her hotel room but we all know to reach out and take care for each other because we've been here before unfortunately.
[Reporter]
Hi Suzie. Happy to see your the old Suzie back in action but the question is last four overs made it look very simple scored around 20 odd boundaries in the entire game today what was going through in the discussion board that just go out and hit out boundary each over or just rotate strikes because you were hitting across the line in the first in in the first two games I mean the team and got out through the wicket but here when you looked at everything was applicable you know application was done to the highest of level so what was the message before you got into bat.
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah yesterday you know we did our normal process Dean Brownlee the batting coach showed us some footage of the Bangladesh bowlers. But then we kind of stopped that and said 'okay how do we want to play? And when are we at our best?' and that was almost that bully mentality that we're strong girls and hitting hard and straight down the ground, early in our innings, is how we all play at our best. So we just talked that's what we were going to do.
[Reporter]
Inaudible question
[Suzie Bates]
It was pretty low. It's hard to compare. I think every time we come to a World Cup, you know, we have the hope and dreams that will make that semi-final stage and we knew we had Australia and South Africa in the first two games. And we played poor, you know when you can't turn up for those big matches that's when it's so disappointing. But look we're all got perspective back home there's been cyclones in central North Island and we know it's just a game. But it does hurt. But we get perspective pretty quickly and we've just got a bounce back. No one goes out there intentionally to play like that we're all trying our hardest and you know we're all as disappointed as each other.
[Reporter]
So it wasn't a full crowd today but just walking us here at Newlands today and the mountain at the back what do you make of this venue, coming to play?
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah it's in the top three grounds that I've even played at. Morne Morkel talks it up a lot so it's nice to have him in the group. But yesterday actually coming here to train and just looking up at the mountains it's absolutely stunning and I think that gives you perspective like you sort of take a moment. And you're like 'how lucky are we that we get to play in these beautiful places.' And look Queenstown's pretty good if you've ever been there; but yeah we we did take a moment to just make sure that we actually got our feet grounded and Morne Morkel's mates with Kolisi, the South African rugby player, so he came and spoke to us so there was good vibes at training yesterday. And yeah we'd love to play again here but unfortunately the schedule doesn't allow. Yeah semi-final sorry, yeah we're still in it.
[Reporter]
Hi hello you start playing fast from the beginning so what's there any special plan today?
[Suzie Bates]
I thought Bernadine Bezuidenhout was outstanding. Like she took the pressure off me when I've been lacking runs and allowed me to just take time to get into my innings. So the way she started I think really set the tone she was able to hit boundaries off every bowler. But no it wasn't anything in particular it was just about us playing, you know, to our strengths. And we got off to a good start which we haven't been able to do this tournament and then the confidence went from there.
[Suzie Bates]
Suzie well played today and congrats on the win just wanted to ask about the practices yesterday; it seemed from the outside at least you had a very intense practice session at some level was taking out the frustration kind of a type. So is that it how was your mindset in that practice session in the nets when you were batting could you just talk about what are the things that you were trying to work?
[Suzie Bates]
Yeah we got into the nets yesterday and it was an optional training and as soon as I hit the first ball I was like 'oh these are nice nets.' So it's good pace and bounce so that helped after two low scores. but look Ben's great at allowing players to do as much or as little as they like and yesterday it was, I just wanted to bat and bat and we had lots of young bowlers running in. And just you know almost getting in the zone of just batting in the nets knowing that I wanted to spend time out in the middle. But it was all about just watching the ball really. I actually changed my grip slightly which is very unusual for me but it worked so, yeah, it was just everyone I think wanted to hit balls and just get some confidence. And it helped that the wickets were really good.