9 October - Hyderabad - New Zealand player Mitchell Santner post-match press conference
[Reporter:]
Mitch, well bowled today. Nine wicket win in Ahmedabad, 99 run win today. Things couldn't have gone better than planned.
[Mitchell Santner:]
Yes, obviously a nice start. We knew that turning up today after the highs of beating England, we couldn't get too complacent. We know the Netherlands are a good team and they almost touched up Pakistan the other day, so it was obviously nice to get the W tonight. It's another two points, but you got to move on pretty quickly in this tournament.
[Reporter:]
I'll come to your bowling a bit later, but tell me about your batting because I saw you hitting some real throwdowns this afternoon before the game started. It seemed like a difficult pitch to start on but you just came out there played your shots and scored it a strike rate of 200. Can you tell us what you did different?
[Mitchell Santner:]
Yeah, I think it was, slightly on the slower side. I thought they bowled, especially their spinners bowled extremely well. Yeah, it looked like we were kind of setting up a bigger score and they, managed to pull it back and get a couple of wickets. So, I guess when I went in, it was still that kind of ‘take it as deep as we can’ and then try have a couple of big overs at the end, which luckily enough we did, to get up to 320.
[Reporter:]
Your second five-wicket international wicket haul, not as economical as in Ahmedabad, but a different pitch today and still managed to find a way to pick up wickets.
[Mitchell Santner:]
Yeah, it was obviously nice to get the rewards. I don't think I bowled as well as I did in Ahmedabad. Probably missed a little bit more, but it was nice to keep trying to be aggressive and get wickets. I guess that's the only way we can kind of slow the batters down in the middle of the ODI innings, is to take wickets. And I thought, as a bowling unit, we did that very well. Guys coming back, still being aggressive, trying to take wickets, and managed to chip them out along we went. And it was nice to get the win in the end.
[Reporter:]
Last one from me. You move on to your home away from home now, which is the Chennai Super Kings. You're playing two sides which are quite spin-heavy, and from what we saw last night in India-Australia, it's not going to be easy, is it?
[Mitchell Santner:]
No, not at all. We knew that going into the tournament that Chennai has that nature of being a bit spinny and it did, especially first innings the other night. And they're obviously good players of spin so it's going to be a challenge just like every other game is going to be in this World Cup. I think we're going to see teams beat teams and have upsets. We've got to be prepared for both those next coming games. Obviously first is Bangladesh and if it is something similar to the other night, it could be spinning a little bit in the daytime and then start to skid on a little bit and get a little bit dewy second innings so we've got to be prepared for both.
[Reporter:]
How do you specify this this win for the further games and did the batsmen reach the fulfilled target?
[Mitchell Santner:]
Yeah, I guess today It looked like a pretty good wicket - we were probably thinking 300 is probably par and we were obviously searching for it. I think we were in a position to get a little bit more than that. But we kind of lost wickets when we wanted to really go, in that kind of 30 to 40 over mark, which we know is - on the flip side bowling - that's obviously the tougher time when batters are looking to come hard.
I think we're reasonably happy with 320. But we know that under the lights here, it does skid on a little bit. I think we'll probably see that throughout this whole tournament where it might swing a little bit second innings, but it definitely looks like it comes on a bit.
[Reporter:]
How about the fitness of Kane Williamson and did you people miss him tonight?
[Mitchell Santner:]
Kane's looking good. He's hitting a lot of balls in the nets and I don't think he was obviously quite fit tonight. We've still got a few days before the next game, a couple more training so I guess the team will make a call then if he's ready to play but yeah, he's chomping at the bit, he wants to come in. But I guess it's more down to the medical team and where they think he's at. But yeah, no doubt when he comes back, it's going to be good for us.
[Reporter:]
Back home you play and spinners generally play a bit of a holding role. In comparison in the subcontinent, obviously, you are more of a wicket-taking option. So as a left-arm spinner, can you just talk us about the areas that you feel you've gotten better at and the kind of work that you've actually put into it?
[Mitchell Santner:]
Yeah, it's obviously nice to come over here and see some spinning wickets because they're few and far between back in New Zealand. I guess the role in New Zealand is slightly different to here. You want to be a little bit more aggressive. You keep your slips in for longer. I try to operate with that mid-on up most of the time, only having three back, trying to make them play big shots. And if it is spinning, yeah, the role is kind of more aggressive. And then I think we'll see at times throughout this tournament in some of the grounds where it might be, okay, it's pretty flat, it might be that defensive role for a little bit, try to get wickets through pressure. And then if it is, like tonight, if there is a little bit of spin, it might be, all right, let's be more aggressive. Let's throw it up, leave the slip in. And so that was nice. I think Rachin bowled extremely well as well, that kind of same mentality of always trying to get wickets through the middle.
