8 November - Bengaluru - New Zealand Captain Kane Williamson pre-match press conference

[Reporter:]

Obviously, have had a few casualties in your squad over the last few days. How's everyone lining up ahead of tomorrow's match?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, probably the first time we've had a fully fit squad, although obviously had to rule a player out and Matt Henry, but yeah, I believe everybody's fit coming into this one. Or fit-ish.

[Reporter:]

Obviously, a lot of permutations and combinations going ahead with rain also predicted so what's the conversation in the camp like?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, I mean for us it's having a look today, looking at the surface. And for us as a team, it's trying to keep building on the positives that have been there and adjusting to the different conditions that you're faced with, which is part and parcel of playing at a World Cup. So small improvements, that's something we've wanted to do throughout. And there's been some good stuff, so we want to try and build on that going into tomorrow.

[Reporter:]

As we know, it's a very important fixture tomorrow in terms of qualification. Looking at the weather, is there any sort of tension or pressure within the team having won first four matches and losing four matches then? Is there any sort of pressure within the team?

[Kane Williamson:]

I mean you naturally want to win as many as you can. We did start off well in terms of those results, but there were also some really close games and ones that we lost. I think if we look at the cricket on a whole, there has been a lot of good cricket and we've seen a lot of teams here playing really good cricket and coming into it we knew that anybody can beat anybody and we've certainly seen that. There's been so many, every team's won a few. And so, yeah, I mean, it's just trying to focus on our cricket and try and put out better performances and I guess that's sort of the beauty of this type of layout is that you do play everybody, you are challenged by everybody in different ways, so the focus is much more about your own cricket and how you look to try and handle that.

[Reporter:]

I'm sure you must have seen Glenn Maxwell's innings yesterday. Pretty unbelievable. What did you make of it?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, an incredibly special knock. Yeah, not just obviously the runs specifically but the situation and he was clearly struggling physically and to be able to pull that off and in a partnership with Pat Cummins is without a doubt one of the great World Cup victories for Australia and probably for any team to witness.

At the same time, a tough one for Afghanistan. They've been excellent and, you know, probably won sort of 80 - 90% of that game. And as we know in white ball cricket, it can change quickly. And that was an amazing example of that and a special knock to watch.

[Reporter:]

This is regarding the spirit of the game we saw what happened to Angelo Matthew and also Maxwell - do you think that it's quite inhuman of course it is not in your domain it is in the domain of the ICC is it an inhuman law that a runner is not provided to Glenn Maxwell but because there was no chance of him misusing this law or clause, whatever it is.

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, I haven't actually thought too much about that. I don't sort of believe it's been too much of an issue over the years that we have been playing without runners. And it certainly made Glenn flick a switch in a way that was quite special. Yeah, I mean it's not something that I guess I can really speak to except for perhaps you see the odd case where it might be required, but ultimately by and large it's not really been an issue I don't think.

[Reporter:]

Lockie's [Ferguson] coming back after a few games. What does he kind of add to your attack?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, I mean he balances out our attack nicely and made some really valuable contributions in the tournament so far and brings a bit of experience as well. So, naturally comes in and bowls with that high pace and it complements our new ball bowlers. So, yeah, we'll have to have a look at the surface and decide on our balance.

[Reporter:]

And just staying with the fast bowling, I mean obviously New Zealand have had a really good history of doing well with the new ball, but in this tournament, it hasn't quite clicked for you in all the matches. How do you feel, Boult is still there, how do you feel about that phase of the game and what do you think has kind of gone wrong for you at times during the course of the tournament?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, I mean, without a doubt, he's world class and there's probably a few factors there. The second half or a few of these games that we've had, the pitches have been very good and players have been playing really well. And perhaps whether you're playing day games or night games. It can be quite dependent on the assistance you might get as well with the new ball. So, there are a lot of factors, but ultimately, it's about looking to adapt and adjust your game. And if you're always trying to get wickets and you're trying to get early wickets - but if it isn't to happen then it's about trying to win other parts of the game and adjusting and I mean he's very experienced and done that on a number of occasions and yes there's another opportunity tomorrow for the guys to go out and operate and certainly try and apply their skills as well as they can and see what happens.

[Reporter:]

The Chinaswamy ground is a notoriously high scoring ground. Even 400 the last time was not enough. So how do you sort of reconcile what a good score is here when even 400 may not be enough?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, it's interesting. Obviously, it took something quite special to chase that, albeit a shortened version of chasing 400, but still a really special knock to get across the line. But you're right, usually it does have quite high scoring games. But we'll still have to very much see what the pitch is like. There's been a lot of weather around and it could look different tomorrow. So, we'll just have to play what's in front of us and focus on our skills as a batting and bowling unit, whether that's looking to be aggressive or trying to handle some death overs as well as we can or with the bat, assess conditions and try and do the job and build those partnerships.

So yeah, we'll just have to keep adjusting to what's in front of us and looking to try and win certain parts of the game that can have a big difference, because naturally, in high scoring games, there's perhaps slightly higher risk cricket and there might be some opportunities, despite not seeing those the other day when we did have a large score on the board. But yeah, that's cricket.

[Reporter:]

A word on Rachin Ravindra's performance at this World Cup? How surprised or not surprised have you been with his batting exploits? And do you see him having a role with the ball at any point tomorrow if the need arises?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah. Incredible.

Look, clearly an amazing talent and sort of just entered the side and in the international arena and to walk into a World Cup and not just any World Cup but here in India and in a lot of ways come into a role that perhaps when he's had exposure in our team, he hasn't played in that opening sort of top three, top order spot and do what he's done is amazing. We sort of knew the talent was there, but to come out and repeat and be one of the players of the tournament so far, not only with the bat, but he's also making really valuable contributions with the ball. Yeah, very, very special player and great that he's on our side.

[Reporter:]

One eye on the sky and a lot of maths to be worked out. How do you all as a team mentally prepare for a game like this?

[Kane Williamson:]

Yeah, I mean there's lots of things that we can't control and the weather is one of those. You mentioned that there might be some of it, there may be a thought in the back of your mind, but at the end of the day, our focus will be on the cricket that we want to play and trying to put all our focus and energy into that.

That gives us the best chance of putting out a good performance. And so that'll be what we try and do.

[Reporter:]

You were in a similar position I think in 2019 at the end of the kind of league stage trying to get into that semi-final lot, have been to two knockout stages before in World Cups and have a lot of the same players involved in this campaign as well. Is there a sense that at this stage, at the crunch end of the World Cup, there's a bit of know-how in the New Zealand camp or there's a little bit of confidence having done it a couple of times before having been in similar situations?

[Kane Williamson:]

I suppose guys have had some of those experiences, but it's another game on another day and four years later. So, the focus is here and now and, on the conditions, and how we want to adjust and the cricket that we want to play. And I think that that is the most important thing. I mean, you have nine pool games. They're all as important as each other. It's very difficult to try and sort of target which game means what it's just every game means something similar. And so, the focus has to come back to us as a team and the cricket that we want to play. So that's what we'll be trying to do as we've been trying to do throughout this competition and try and make those small improvements like I mentioned.