25 October - Bengaluru - England player Moeen Ali pre-match press conference
[Reporter:]
After the setback again the other night, can you take us inside the group and tell us how everyone's feeling ahead of this next, the next must-win game?
[Moeen Ali:]
We're obviously disappointed from the result and not just the result but the way we played so but, in the competition, you've got to move on as quick as you can and regroup. Everything is a must-win and we know we've been in this position before, probably not to this degree, but we know everything is a must-win and we have to get our confidence and perform well and bat and bowl and field better than we have done so far in this tournament.
[Reporter:]
And on a personal level, how hard has it been for yourself since that first game to not only have the disappointment of the results not going the team's way, but not being able to affect things and sort of been frustrated, I guess, watching along?
[Moeen Ali:]
Yeah, it's very frustrating, obviously, because you want to play and make some sort of difference. And yeah, it's one of those, it's difficult when you're not winning and then when you're not playing on top of that, it's hard. But you prepare well and you train well, and that's all you can do at the minute. So, my job is to do that. And when the time comes, and if I get the recall, then be ready and try and impact the team in winning games.
[Reporter:]
Has the time come?
[Moeen Ali:]
Oh, I don't know yet. Well, we get told during practice, but I'm hoping to play and hoping to get a chance to go out and perform.
[Reporter:]
And if you do play tomorrow, there's a ground you know pretty well. Can you just tell us a bit about your experiences here, how comfortable you feel playing here and how much you think it may or may not suit what you can bring to the team?
[Moeen Ali:]
I think if I do play it could go for a few runs because it's quite small and a flat wicket, but it's also good for batting. It's one of those grounds where scoring is quick and batting deep makes a big difference. If I get the nod, then I'm really looking forward to playing. And I grind out, I play franchise cricket, and it's a great place to play. It's a great venue. And yeah, I'll be pretty excited.
[Reporter:]
Just with that regrouping process, is it something that the players just do as individuals? Because you're all obviously very experienced. Or has there been some kind of get together or chats, as people taking the lead on that?
[Moeen Ali:]
Yeah, no, we've got together a few times, even before the last game, and we've chatted and stuff. But I think mainly It comes down to the individual to perform and stick his hand up. And as long as it's within the team's way of playing, I think that's really important. Because you can get individuals that then get a bit, not selfish, but they start thinking about themselves rather than the team, and I think it's important that we forget all that and just, as an individual, once you get the opportunity, you try and win the game, and that's the most important thing. If we can all impact and contribute to winning the game, I think it makes a big difference with that sort of mindset. And that's what we're talking about here.
[Reporter:]
So, the core of this group has been together for such a long time, experienced great success obviously, but given the results of this tournament and I guess the stage in your careers that many of you are at, do you think there's a feeling that this is the end of something for this group? Or is there a lot more room -
[Moeen Ali:]
I think there's still a lot of players that can play for a long time. There's obviously a few of us who are a bit older, more than likely won't make the next World Cup, but there's a lot of players who have been around for years that will be, and I don't think it's the end of anything. I think it could potentially be the start of something else. Yeah, I mean, we're still in the competition, we're still in the tournament. We know it's a tough one now. We've got to win every game. But we know that we can do it. It's just more just getting the confidence back as a side and playing the way we know that we can play. But who knows what could be the start of or the end of, but no one's really thinking about that kind of stuff.
[Reporter:]
You come up against a familiar figure tomorrow in Chris Silverwood, your old coach. I just wondered, do you think he might have a point to prove, given how things ended with him with England?
[Moeen Ali:]
Yeah, of course. I mean, he's a good coach, and I'm sure he'll be thinking about that. But I'm sure they've only won one as well, so I know they're going to want to get on this winning run as well as anybody else. So, I think he'll be thinking more about that and his own team. But I'm sure deep down, like everybody else would, you're trying to prove a point or whatever it is. But it might motivate him even more. But he's not the one going out to bat and bowl, it's his team. And he'll be just trying to get his players ready. And like I said, he's a very good coach. He's a nice guy, and I enjoyed him. So yeah, I'm sure he's got that motivation to do well against us.
[Reporter:]
Within the context of the last couple of games and your status as vice-captain, could you just talk a bit about the challenge, I suppose, of balancing stuff like your own IPL experience of playing at this ground versus what you're presented with on the day in terms of the weather and the pitch and what it actually looks like tomorrow morning at half afternoon at half one
[Moeen Ali:]
Yeah, look as vice-captain you try and give as much input as you can especially when the captain asks your opinion on things and yeah, it's talk about the team together a lot of the time I give my opinion and that's all I can do really and yeah, I just try and help out as much as I can but it's really important that players - and Jos has played a lot here as well so he knows a lot of the conditions, and he knows what happens in India. And yeah, he bounces a few ideas off me, and I do the same thing.
My job is to, whenever he asks me something, to give him an answer as much as I can and be clear in that. But obviously, it's him that takes the team forward and what he thinks is the right team and combinations and stuff.
[Reporter:]
More concerning the fact that Sri Lanka is struggling with injuries with the bowlers and probably they are more weaker bowling side. How much does that give England confidence?
[Moeen Ali:]
Not really because we still have to play well and it's international cricket. Even if they are slightly weaker in their bowling, it doesn't give us confidence. If anything, we've got to go out and just perform like we're playing against anybody else, and be ruthless in our batting, which we know we can be and we can do. But yeah, we need to build our confidence as well as a side. And it's not really the opposition that gives us this more with internal and how we're going to go about it and how we're going to perform so yeah, I mean most teams will lose bowlers and have injuries and things like that but our job as the opposition is to perform to our capabilities.
[Reporter:]
I think that you can you make use of this game as a turning point for England for the rest of the tournament?
[Moeen Ali:]
We're going to have to yeah, we can, we have to obviously win and there's no other choice or no other way of playing apart from putting in the performance that we win the game and we've got to do every game from now on to stay in this World Cup.
[Reporter:]
Looking at the English situation in this World Cup, do you think bazball cricket is the way forward for England cricket team?
[Moeen Ali:]
The thing is, bazball is in Test cricket. One day cricket's different and we've been playing different all the time. And we've been playing aggressive cricket throughout for the last since 2015 done it quite well. I think probably the lack of that way of cricket has probably cost us a little bit in this tournament we haven't been playing that way in my opinion and I think we need to play that way, but without slogging the ball, but just be that really aggressive side that we know we can be.
[Reporter:]
Just a question off topic. We know that cricket has grown over the years. And looking at such a big event like the World Cup, where many have got attracted. What about talking about cricket in 2028, where it's going to reach Olympics? What are your thoughts on it? And you know that even the sports minister said that Virat is being pushing it. So, what is your thought on that?
[Moeen Ali:]
I think it's amazing for the game I think it's amazing for everyone. It'd be amazing to play in the Olympics representing cricket and representing [your] country would be unbelievable and 2028 I'll be quite old but I'll try hang on. But yeah, that'll be unbelievable to play Olympics for your country, yeah.
[Reporter:]
In the previous game here, Adam Zampa took four wickets against Pakistan. Does that give you any confidence that you yourself and Adil Rashid can do well here despite the short boundaries on offer?
[Moeen Ali:]
I wish I was a leggy sometimes as well. It's one of those places where you can go for a lot of runs, but you can also pick a wicket. If you get a big score on the board, then most of the time, leggies get a lot of wickets. Or spinners get a lot of wickets when you get a big score on the board, because the opposition needs to come out playing shots and that works into your favour, but If I bowl well if I bat well, whatever or Rash bowls well, then he'll get wickets. I don't think Zampa getting wickets will give anyone confidence because I've seen other leggies bowl well here before so It's just if you bowl well, you got a good chance.
[Reporter:]
You have already touched upon the point talking about how England play attacking brand of cricket right so the base always has been that the openers or the top order they flourish and then lay a strong foundation but that has not happened in this World Cup specially barring one of the games. Has there been talk about it among the leadership group, or among the players, about the need for the top order to fire so that you guys would establish what you would really like to play?
[Moeen Ali:]
Yeah, and it's not always that easy. I mean, I'm sure, obviously, last game, we were chasing 400. So, we had to come out and play shots. And we unfortunately lost Bairstow, who's probably our most attacking player up top. But yeah, most of the time you want the guys to score quickly and score for longer periods, so then it makes it easier for everybody else. But it doesn't always work like that, and we all need to score runs and perform. But if you get your openers and your top three firing and they're scoring runs, it certainly helps everybody else and you get in the big scores aside. We've spoken about it, and it's not always easy, we know you can't do it all the time. But the guys are due some runs, and hopefully it's going to come now.
[Reporter:]
England have obviously had combination in this World Cup that centred on batting depth. But that sort of changed in the last game where, including yourself, the all-rounders didn't play. So how much of that was down to just the form, or was that down to the conditions there?
[Moeen Ali:]
I think it was down to just a different way, because we haven't been playing well. And we wanted our best six batters to obviously try and score the runs, or rely on them to score the runs. And chasing 400, It's always difficult. We ended up not bowling that well, and South Africa batting amazingly well. So obviously it didn't work. And I wouldn't be surprised if it changes and we go back to what we've been doing for the last, I don't know how many years. Yeah, it’s just one of those things that didn't work on that day. Obviously, we took Mumbai wicket into consideration with that. It just didn't work.
