3 March - Tauranga - New Zealand Captain Sophie Devine pre-match press conference
Reporter: Thanks James – Good day Sophie - Hello again. This is finally coming around. I know it's been so long and such a stop start kind - how does it feel to know that you will lead your team into a Home World Cup?
Sophie: Yeah, good day Guy – long time - No See – Yeah It's hugely exciting. Like you said it's been a tournament it's long been coming – Covid, delays here and there. But to think that we’re finally here - tomorrow, it all kicks off is certainly extremely exciting. I know this group is really - We've obviously had fantastic prep. We have come off a heavy diet of cricket over the summer and I don't think we could be any better prepared heading into this World Cup. So we're really excited to finally get going.
Reporter: Yeah, if I can just ask one more on the preparation. You just thrashed Australia, you played very well against India. Do you think the extra year or so actually helped this team and you've managed to now peak in perfect time for this tournament?
Sophie: Oh, not potentially. I mean, things happen for a reason and maybe to delay was to give us a bit more time to build to where we are now. So we've certainly taken that opportunity. And I've just been super impressed with the way that this group has just rolled with the punches. Obviously everyone's been doing it pretty tough with COVID for the last couple of years but like I say, finally to be here you know on the eve of the World Cup, I think this team is - you know, as best prepared as we can be and we are we just really are looking forward to getting stuck in especially after some of the performance which we've had of late.
Media Manager: Thanks Guy - much appreciated. If we head over to Andrew -
Hi Sophie - going back to maybe to the start of last summer. You know, when you were in Australia, you would have obviously been looking forward to this World Cup way back then, how much have things gone according to plan?
Jeez, some things have and some things haven’t and I think that’s where this group has really evolved and grown is that we’re learnt to roll with the punches, we’ve been adaptable, we’ve had to adjust, we’ve been flexible, we’ve always – I guess with Bob leading this team we’ve always kept our eyes on the bigger picture and look World Cup is part of the bigger picture and we know that there's a lot to come after this World Cup is finished as well, so I think that’s really helped this group keep perspective and to keep moving forward and to keep growing, so look I think – it seems a long, long time ago that we were in Australia last summer, but here we are now, we’re focused, we’re ready to go, just we’re just waiting to finally get started.
Reporter: (Question not clear0
Sophie: Yeah, just a little bit – it will be interesting to see how the sleep goes tonight, I've tried to have a few naps today and I’ve not been that successful, which is a bit of a shame. But, look, it's been great obviously, the media the group, I mean, everyone's ready to go, but our final training session later this evening, which is going to be really exciting, but at the end of the day, it's never a game of cricket that we're going to get prepared for and we've been doing it now for a long time. And we've got into some really good routines of this as this group. So, again, it's just about making sure that we do those small things well, that we've been doing well for the last, you know, month or so.
Media Manager: Thank you.
Reporter: Thanks, James – Sophie, you talked there about your inability to take a nap because you're so excited, obviously. But obviously, there's the pressure that comes with playing on home soil. I guess now that you're here, you're finally here. How are you and the team feeling about that aspect of this tournament?
Sophie: Oh, look we are it genuinely excited. I think this tournament has been a long time coming and its absolutely going to be nerves, there's going to be pressure there's going to be expectation - would be silly to think that those things won't be there especially being our own World Cup being the host country that there is no expectation there. But again, we've spoken at length as a group that we can only control what we can control and that is out on the cricket field. So, we are we're embracing all the small different things but there's a lot of familiarity obviously coming back here to Bay Oval - we've played a lot of cricket here. We've done a lot of training camps and so it's nice to come back to familiar surroundings. But at the end of the day, we just need to focus on what we can control. And, you know, again, it's another game of cricket. So we just need to make sure that we’ve tuned into that.
Media Manager: Thanks. From The New Indian Express – Gomesh.
Hi, Sophie. Just following upon that a little bit. After a lot of anticipation you're finally here - has the feeling of starting the home World CUP, sunk in or just want to get started already. What's the mood like for the team?
Sophie: Yeah, absolutely. I think yeah, I'll be counting down the minutes probably until the first game kicks off. So there is a lot of excitement. So it's about I guess keeping it under control and embracing it and and using it to our advantage. I think we've spoken at length about this day, this tournament finally arriving but as I mentioned, it just goes back to those simple things that we've been doing really well the last couple of weeks being on tour and now under this real pap event. It's about doing the small things the one percenters and continuing on what you know what's become really familiar for us.
Reporter: Just one more, if I may - you mentioned the last couple of weeks. It's been great for New Zealand especially with Amy you - yourself, Suzie as well as Amelia Kerr coming together with the bat - the top four scoring bulk of the runs - How important is this core top four crucial for your campaign, especially in the batting department. And how good is it to see them coming together at the right time?
Sophie: Oh, look, I think every team's top four is important to their chances of winning this tournament and we're no different. I think we've had fantastic preparation. I think the impressive thing about our team at the moment is it's not just the top four that are standing up. We've had performances from people bearing it 5- 6- 7- 8 And even you know Hanna Rowe coming in at 10 or 11. In the Indian ODI games and she's crunching Jhulan Goswami down the ground for four - it's certainly given this group a lot of confidence that people are really ready to go. We certainly know as the top four batters that we've got a responsibility there to make sure we get the runs on the board and we - that's no different whether it's at a World Cup event or a bilateral series, we know that to score runs is the batters job. So we are fully aware of what's required of us and I guess we're our harshest critic. So we're just really looking forward to this challenge of stepping up and delivering on the world stage.
Reporter: Thank you and all the very best for the World Cup.
Media Manager: Thanks, Gomesh. We just got one question just so we can try and get through everyone before our time is up.
Reporter: Thank you. Hi, Sophie. Sophie obviously things are very different now to what they were in in 2015. But at that World Cup the public were really galvanized behind New Zealand and it was such a great festival. I'm just wondering what your memories of that were and if you think something similar and a similar vibe can be created this time.
Sophie: I certainly hope so. I was fortunate enough to be at what was Westpac stadium where Martin Guptill brought up his 200 and whatever it was - the crowd, the way that the whole public got in behind the men’s team was extraordinary and it certainly created a buzz and it's something that we've spoken about as a group as how can we fit the country behind us and we know our best way of doing it is just by playing really exciting brand of cricket with a smile on our face and enjoying spending time together out in the middle there. So we know if we can do that we'll get I guess the country behind us -already we've felt so much love and support from people from all around the place and it's been great, you know, people passing us in the street. You know, we've had a few cars honking their horns at us which I'm thinking is a good thing but it's just been really nice to see people recognizing us and wishing us well.
Reporter: Thanks for those – Kalyani.
Thank you James. Sophie My question is that most of the World Cup will happen in the Women's History Month and New Zealand is the first country to recognize women's voting rights. So in the larger picture, how important do you think is this World Cup as the tournament for women in general and women in New Zealand in particular?
Sophie: Great question. I think it's a really unique time and something that New Zealand's extremely proud of to be hosting three woman's World Cup in the space of a couple of years. That doesn't happen too often. I guess we get the opportunity to lead the rest of the teams up- so we're really looking forward to it - the work that's gone into this tournament has been unbelievable, I have to give a huge amount of praise to the Organizing Committee New Zealand Cricket, ICC. It's been a huge and I probably don't even know the half of it. So you know, huge amount of praise goes to them. We're certainly looking forward to doing our part as players to make sure that you know, whoever's watching whether they're able to get to the ground or on TV or whatever it looks like. They're really enjoying women's cricket because it's grown so much over the last couple of years and women's sport as well has been, you know on this real wave of momentum and I'm really looking forward to – once this is finished - certainly getting in behind our Black fins at the Rugby World Cup, and also our football fans at the FIFA World Cup in a couple of years’ time.
Media Manager: Thank you and all the very best.
Thank you last couple guys, we'll go to Karunya
Reporter: Hi Sophie, good luck for the World Cup. In past tournaments New Zealand has had a motto or a rallying cry or a saying that everyone's got behind. Is there one for this tournament that you can share?
Sophie: Sorry, I just missed the first part of that question. Could you repeat it again please?
Reporter: In the past tournaments New Zealand have had a motto or a rallying cry something like better together I think it was a couple of World Cups ago. Is there one for this tournament that you can share?
Sophie: Right. I think a big one that's been pushed here in New Zealand is “Let's show them” and I think it really gets behind I guess women's sport and getting it out there - the opportunity to be on the global stage with hopefully billions of eyes watching us. It's certainly something that we've taken on board and we do- we want to show everyone who's willing to watch women's cricket just how good the sport is and the some of the athleticism, some of you know the cricket that's being played is some of the best I've ever seen and I've been involved with so I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks and seeing not only what - what our white fins can do but the rest of the countries as well.
Reporter: We'll jump quickly to Nathan Lin.
Hi, Sophie. Given the 2015 World Cup and New Zealand and men's World Cup and the sort of surge in popularity the sport had after that. How important is this World Cup in terms of inspiring the next generation of Woman Cricketers?
Sophie: It's hugely important, I think, a real motivating factor for us as it's not just young female cricketers. We want any young New Zealander to pick up the bat and ball because we've certainly got a lot of a lot of enjoyment out of playing this beautiful game. And so for us it is we know the power that it had the 2015 World Cup that the surge in numbers and again it goes back to that - we know that what we can control is is how we play and it's something that we are really committed to and we wanted to play an exciting brand and showing not only the rest of the world but certainly Kiwis back here in New Zealand that we play with a smile on our face and we enjoy our time together and hopefully that inspires people to pick up the bat because we are so you know grateful to be in a position that we are to be able to show our talents to the rest of the world that hopefully if it means you know, one or two kids or you know even adults are picking up the bat and ball - It's a huge plus for us.