17 October - Dharamsala - New Zealand Captain Tom Latham pre-match press conference
[Reporter:]
Three games unbeaten. Afghanistan's up next. Until now, you have been considered the outright favourite for this match but after Afghanistan upset England, how does it affect or change your preparations and mentality ahead of this game?
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, it doesn't change our preparation at all. I think we've spoken throughout this tournament that every game that we play is worth two points and every game is just as important as the next. So, from our point of view, we'll be preparing exactly the way we prepared for the last three games. As you said, Afghanistan had a fantastic win a few nights ago and played a fantastic game of cricket and they'll be flying high with confidence and I'm sure they'll be looking to do the same to us tomorrow. So yeah, it's going to be a great challenge, a team that we haven't played a lot in the past but we'll be looking forward to it.
[Reporter:]
And it was confirmed yesterday that cricket is Olympic bound, so what's your reaction to it and what does it mean for the future of the sport from the Olympics perspective?
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, it's obviously fantastic to, I guess cricket to be played in the Olympics. It's a pretty cool thing and something that hasn't happened. I guess it's something that from my time in cricket hasn't really happened. So, yeah, I think coming up against those teams in a slightly different event will be really special. So, it's obviously a few years away yet, but I'm sure everyone who will be playing in that tournament will be pretty excited about it.
[Reporter:]
You're back in the saddle again. How easy or difficult is this transition? Or is it just like another day for you? Because you're the keeper as well, so you obviously have more inputs in controlling the field than the other fielders or something like that.
And a quick take on the pitch, Afghanistan has a very good spin attack, so just quick notes on that.
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, I think it's a reasonably smooth transition. It's happened a little bit in the past, so the way I operate is sort of similar to the way Kane operates. For me it's always been about trying to execute the team game plan as best as possible. That's always been my focus and I'm sure it's the same with Kane.
I guess it's trying to rely on other leaders amongst the group to help out. And as I said, we've had a few games at the start before obviously Kane came back and the boys obviously played really well, so obviously hoping to continue a little bit of that momentum. And as you said, Afghanistan have some fantastic bowlers in their squad, not only their spinners but also their seamers. So, they're going to be a challenge and as I said, our preparation, we've prepared as best we can for their bowlers. Spoken to the guys that have played in the IPL with and against some of their guys, so trying to get as much as much information as possible. So, and yeah looking forward to what tomorrow presents
[Reporter:]
Baz kind of spoke to us a couple of days back about the All-Blacks’ victory over Ireland. So, you've also played rugby for Canterbury as well, like back in the day. So, could you just provide us a peek into what the night was like after you sort of won and got back to the hotel for the game?
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, it was a pretty cool win, wasn't it? Yeah, I guess from our point of view, it was a massive game for the All Blacks. And yeah, I think the way that they played was fantastic. Yeah, a pretty thrilling quarter-final. And certainly, a lot of the guys were up in the team room watching so yeah pretty stoked for them.
[Reporter:]
And obviously like in the T20 World Cup game in Dubai like Rashid and Mujeeb post a similar threat but then back then it was Devon sweeps and reverse sweeps which sort of helped the Black Caps win. And he also has this intel about the local conditions. So, could you speak about Devon's overall progress as well? Because obviously he's known to hit spin, but then he's levelled up against pace as well.
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, he's a fantastic player. I think the way he's come on since his start in international cricket has been fantastic obviously for New Zealand but also other tournaments around the world and we obviously saw the quality player that he was, for him before he qualified to play for New Zealand and he's just continued that, what he did at domestic level and he's certainly come on leaps and bounds and someone like that who has an all-round game against spin and seam, is trying to get as much information in terms of how he goes about things he's obviously done it in these conditions here in Chennai before and against a lot of these guys so you know as I said trying to get as much information with the likes of Devon and also Kane who's played with a couple of these guys in the past.
[Reporter:]
In 2015, Brendan and 2019 under Kane Williamson - New Zealand were very aggressive with the ball at the World Cup. So here, now you're in the hot seat, like in these conditions where the ball tends to go a little softer than other places, how do you juggle between like going on the defence and offence and how challenging is going to be for you in the middle overs?
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, I think that's always the challenge in white ball cricket it's how to stay aggressive you know through the middle stages when you know things you know don't tend to happen as quickly and I think from our point of view we've always tried to be proactive and always looking to take wickets in some way.
We do have threats throughout our bowling line-up as well with the likes of Mitch Santner who's played here a lot, who's done really well to start the tournament and obviously our seamers as well who have been fantastic.
For us it's just about trying to adapt to each surface as best we can. Some surfaces may be different to others, and they may change throughout a 50-over inning. So yeah, trying to be adaptable and trying to be proactive. And if we can do that, hopefully that gives us a good chance.
[Reporter:]
All of your blokes, like Matt Henry and Nish Sodhi, believes that you are a bowler's captain, and you have turned out to be a great leader for the team. So how, easy, or difficult was it for you to take up the role in the absence of Kane and to make the most out of it?
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, as I said, I think from my point of view it's about trying to operate in terms of the way that the team wants to play and trying to execute the team game plan as best as I can. And I think being in the position of being a keeper it's a little bit harder to talk to bowlers between balls.
So, for me it's about trying to give the trust back to the bowler in terms of how they want to operate in field placements and trying to get guys to talk to each other as much as they can at the top of their mark.
Obviously, the guys have been fantastic the first three games. We're lucky we've got a lot of experience in this group from a bowling point of view. So, for me it's always about trying to put trust back in them and letting them sort of do their thing.
[Reporter:]
How involved are you with the bowling set-up before the game?
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, as I said, it's more of a game plan point of view in terms of how we want to operate, how we want to, as I said, be proactive, look to take wickets all the time. So, we do our scouting meetings like we do for every team and try to come up with the best way and look at batsmen's strengths and weaknesses and try to execute our plans as best we can.
[Reporter:]
I was talking to a couple of former Indian cricketers who are good at playing spin. They were saying the best way to counter Afghanistan spinners is to play the sweep shot now. Is your team thinking on the same line and practicing on those ones?
[Tom Latham:]
Everyone's game plan is slightly different. Some guys like to sweep, some guys don't. I think from our preparation point of view, it's guys trying to execute their plans as best they can. You look throughout our line-up, we will have guys that sweep, we will have guys that like to hit down the ground more. So, I think it's a little bit surface dependent. We have to wait and see what the surface is going to play like and try, as I said, try to adapt to our surfaces as best we can. And if guys stick to their strengths as best, they can, then hopefully that will give themselves a good chance of being successful.
[Reporter:]
No disrespect to your last three opponents, including tomorrow's game, your schedule is like the bigger teams come towards the back end of the tournament, so how important it is to take a 4-0 when going into some of the bigger games that follows and does it also in case for a big country, for someone like England, I mean does it affect when you lose to a slightly lesser nation like Afghanistan who are just finding their feet in international cricket. Is that something, is there a mental thing that will happen in that case?
[Tom Latham:]
Every game is important. Not one game is more important than the other. Every game is worth two points and that's something that we've spoken about throughout this tournament is treating every game the same and you know we've played some really good cricket to start. Obviously, we set the tone quite nicely with that game against England, first game in the tournament and all we're doing, all we can do is prepare as best we can for every game and try to execute our plan as best we can. And if we do that to the best of our ability, then we know we're a hard team to beat on our day.
The beauty about this tournament is whoever turns up on that specific day against whoever it is, if they play well, then they'll give themselves a good chance. So, we've seen that throughout this tournament, that that's sort of the way it's gone. But if you turn up and you play well, then you give yourself a good chance. And from our point of view, that's how we're looking to operate tomorrow - prepare as best we can you know tonight and take off our final preparations and if we do that then you know hopefully, we can have a good game tomorrow.
[Reporter:]
Tom despite being one of the most consistent teams in the recent World Cup - New Zealand keep flying under the radar and there is no media following you wherever you go and there is no media pressure either. Is that a blessing being away from the spotlight, especially in a big tournament like this?
[Tom Latham:]
Yeah, I guess we're just Kiwis, we just sort of operate the way we've always operated. We're obviously a small country down that part of the world, far away from most countries. But I think from our point of view we just try play our brand of cricket as best we can and well there's I guess there's external noise whatever tournament you play whatever games you play there's attention, there's media attention you know against different teams whatever it may be but our focus has always been about us in terms of if we play our best brand of cricket then we know we can be successful against any team.
You come to a World Cup, there's obviously heightened pressures, whatever that may be, but we know if we can stay as level as we can then that gives us a good chance if we win lose and whatever that may be so yeah trying to trying to stay nice and level try play our brand of cricket and w
