Kane Williamson (New Zealand Captain) pre-match Press Conference - 12th October 2023
[Reporter:]
Hi, Kane. Welcome back to India, and welcome back to cricket again. It's been a long time we have seen you. So, with you being here, it can be deemed that you will be playing tomorrow's game. So, talk us through about last few months, about your road to recovery. And I'd also like to know the status of Tim Southee for tomorrow's game.
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah. Well, firstly, Tim's progressing well, but won't be playing tomorrow's game. Yeah, as for my recovery it's been quite a journey but largely a good one that's had some really good progress and you know I've said a number of times, really excited to be named in the World Cup squad, be sitting here now and really excited at the prospect of tomorrow, which is another big challenge for us. A new venue, new opposition, as we know, which always happens in world events. And we're looking forward to the challenge.
[Reporter:[
Does the legacy and success of All Blacks inspire you; you’re looking to win the World Cup, it remains an elusive World Cup, does it inspire you?
[Kane Williamson:]
I mean, yeah, we love the All Blacks, you know coming from New Zealand obviously Rugby is our number one game and so I think everybody in the squad are pretty passionate about Rugby and following their journey at the moment at the World Cup and the success that they've had.
For us, yeah, I mean we've had some really enjoyable times recently and got pretty close, but you still have to start again. And there's been some good performances so far. We come to another venue where challenges could be a little bit different and so it's important to play what's in front of us and keep focusing on what gives us the best chances.
[Reporter:]
Any particular aspect of your legacy that you would like to inculcate in your team?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, I mean I haven't really spent a lot of time personally in the All Blacks environment. I think when we were growing up, we all wanted to be All Blacks and that couldn't happen so we tried something else. And we're here as a cricket team but I think something that you do hear often about their side is their culture, their environment, and their ability to keep moving forward as a team and adapting to what's in front of them, whether that's the movement of the game and how that keeps changing and evolving. And they keep doing really well at staying ahead of that curve.
So yeah, I mean we just want to keep getting better as a side, keep growing as a side and that's our focus.
[Reporter:[
Can you just talk us through your recovery and how you played the two warm up games, in terms of skill wise, batting wise, you hit the ground running, you seemed like you were not away for six months. Just talk us through the recovery journey, and what are the things that you did during your recovery so that you'd be as fresh or as ready when you came into the World Cup and in terms of post the warm-up games what are the things that you wanted to know and address, I mean is it more to do with fielding and fielding for 50 overs and things like that?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, yeah the recovery was or the rehab the whole sort of journey really with a series of really small steps and just trying to take small steps forward and it certainly started with strength and range in terms of the knee and then gradually trying to improve that and control a bit - some of the pain around it as the load increases and we could be here all day talking about it, but I'll fast forward a little bit - and great to be here and then and get involved in those warm-up games which were really, really enjoyable and then you know during those and post that were a lot of sort of return to play fitness parts which were perhaps a little bit more related to fielding, time on feet and looking to try and execute some of those skills. And so, yeah, I mean each week throughout the last period of time since I've been, I guess, rehabbing has been really important and really valuable. So, it was nice to get a little bit of that time in the last week or two and like I say, I look forward to tomorrow as a side.
[Reporter:]
Is there anything specific in terms of training that you want to avoid? Is there anything that you look for?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, largely. We have a good fielding unit, so we'll position guys where we best see fit. In terms of my positions, maybe on the odd occasion they might adjust a little bit, but largely it's feeling pretty good.
[Reporter:]
When the injury actually happened, it appeared like you might probably miss the entire tournament. We are here for New Zealand's third game, you won back-to-back. At what point did you actually get to know that you might actually make it for the tournament?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Initially, it was not really considered. And to be honest, it was probably a good thing just to get my head stuck into rehab and each day and not sort of rush it and that was really my focus and I was fortunate as well I had a really, really good team around me back home and also fortunate not to have a lot of setbacks during that time, so there were lots of little steps forward which I guess accumulate to being here now really and getting close and realising that if each week does keep progressing well, ticking off all those sort of milestones along the way, which there are many of them, then there might be a chance. And yeah, grateful that that was something that could be done and getting named in the squad was a really exciting moment.
[Reporter:]
In Dubai in the last [T20] World Cup, you had to deal with that niggly elbow and even prior to that I know the nature of this injury is different, the nature of this format is different but the way you manage your elbow in Dubai two years back would that sort of help you ease your way into this World Cup now?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, I mean quite, yeah quite different injuries but yeah, I suppose speaking to this one you know there were lots of quite clear steps along the way that you were trying to tick off different milestones in terms of returning to the next phases and those sorts of things. So quite different, a lot of data around it, mainly from other sports that was relied on and different strength numbers and heights and jumping and just heaps and heaps of different bits.
So yeah, quite different but yeah, just great to be sitting here now and looking forward to the challenges tomorrow.
[Reporter:]
Chennai wicket is favourable for the spinner traditionally, and Bangladesh have some quality spinners. So how threatening or challenging for you?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, I mean, we know it's going to be a big challenge tomorrow and as is every game, you know, we come into this tournament knowing that anybody can beat anybody. That makes a really exciting event I think and the conditions are always going to change. You go from venue to venue and they do vary a lot and we have seen here that there's been that spin and the pitch has varied perhaps as the games moved on as well so throughout the day - but definitely I think both teams have some good spin bowlers that no doubt will play a big part tomorrow.
For us as a team it's really just trying to keep focusing on our plans and what we set out to do and do our roles as best we can, sort of knowing that it could look a little bit different, to perhaps our first couple of games.
[Reporter:]
India is like a second home for you as every year you come here for playing IPL matches and you know the wickets here very well, so there is a discussion around that after the first two World Cup matches, you are going to face the real challenge on this tricky wicket. Is it really that tricky for you? What's your observation?
[Kane Williamson:]
I think, not just here in India, but any country when you play, certainly world events where there are multiple games on surfaces, in quite quick succession that you do see such a variety of surfaces that you have to try and adapt to as quickly as possible.
So, from where the tournament starts to perhaps midway and towards the end, it can all look quite different.
So yeah, it's very much trying to focus on adapting as quickly as possible and sort of parking previous performances, taking some of the good and getting nice and clear that it's about starting again and looking to apply ourselves with what we have that is in front of us. And for us that's an important part of it.
[Reporter:[
Former Indian cricketer is there with Bangladesh team in charge of technical inputs. He's been there with Australia also before. So how important are these inputs? You want to plan for new venues also in this World Cup. So how does people with local knowledge matter?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, absolutely. I think local knowledge at any venue, but certainly in the country that you're in, can provide some good insight. I think all teams are trying to do as much homework as they can and tap into some of the experience that they might have in their group so it can, it can definitely add some value.
[Reporter:]
How do you see Bangladesh as an opponent in general? Obviously, it's the World Cup and every match is important here but just this time strength-wise, how do you see Bangladesh as an opponent in general?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, I mean, I think certainly in the subcontinent, they're very, very familiar with these conditions and they have a number of match winners throughout their side and I keep coming back to the fact that you turn up to world events and every year there's such a large group of teams that can all beat each other with the variety of conditions with the match winners throughout every team that are here and all the work that goes into actually getting to this tournament.
Yep, every team brings a slightly different challenge and yeah, I think it's important that as a side, it's just trying to connect with the important parts of your game as a team that you want to keep committing to, because it's a long tournament. Every game's a tough one. So, it's trying to keep applying ourselves as best we can.
[Reporter:]
Before the tournament you had like a captain's photo shoot and if I'm right, I think you're the only captain who was also captain at the 2019 World Cup. And so, how do you see ODIs as having changed since then? And lots of teams haven't actually played that much ODI cricket in these four years and including New Zealand and including yourself, especially So, how do you see the format is having changed and have you had to change your game in any way?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, I think with the number of T20 sort of World Cups that we've had, it's probably meant that there's been a lot more T20 cricket building up to those events. Yeah, I mean it probably keeps evolving a little bit and there's probably a bunch of things that still remain quite similar that you do need to still keep considering because as we know you can you can still turn up on any day and when we saw in 2019 where there were expectations that there'll be scores of 400 plus where in fact they were probably more like 250 to 260 range and so there's still a lot of adjustment and adapting to the way you play that gives you the best chance and I think every team does it a little bit differently.
All teams are trying to improve and get better and push their games forward. Does feel like it's come up quite quickly, even though it has been four years. So yeah, I mean, I think there'll be some subtle parts to it that have evolved a bit, but ultimately, I think conditions will play the biggest part in the differences that we might see when you go from a World Cup in England or Australia or New Zealand and then you come here in the in India, so they bring some natural differences for sure.
[Reporter:]
Rachin got two great innings back-to-back and how important he is for the team and when you were back in the team what is his place will be in the batting order?
[Kane Williamson:]
Rachin? Yeah, I mean we still need to have a look at the surface in terms of the balance that we are looking at which will then certainly affect the selection - but Rachin has been a huge part of our side and had some really significant contributions in the first two and will absolutely be involved.
[Reporter:]
We had a comment from Naveen Ul Haq of Afghanistan yesterday about his retirement from the format, saying that he doesn't feel like there's an even contest between bat and ball anymore in ODI cricket, so that's a kind of thought process that a lot of cricketers have been having now, so how do you view it and what can be done in ODI cricket do you think?
[Kane Williamson:]
Yeah, I mean I think it's important that there is that, I think we've seen it in some games and in others you know it can sort of go one way or the other. That's the changing conditions and some surfaces might be spin friendly, seam friendly, batter friendly.
I do think often in World Cups you do see a pretty good balance. I think we saw that at the last World Cup and even the one before that as well and probably the one before that and I can't remember too much past that. But yeah, I think it's important I do think that you want everybody that has a role and has a real part to play and be an aggressive option with the art that they have. So, I suppose it's an ongoing challenge.
[Reporter:[
How do you feel about the quality of the pitches in the tournament?
[Kane Williamson:]
The World Cup pitches - Yeah, I mean we've played on two and they were really good surfaces. We played on a fresh one and then a used one and it was still really good and it was a little bit different.
I suppose we're just going to keep seeing the different characteristics of the pitches in the different parts of India, which I think is quite natural in world events. So yeah, by the looks they've been good surfaces.