Photo Credit: BCCI
New Zealand produced a stunning performance to beat India in a must-win clash on Sunday but opening bowler Tim Southee knows there is still a lot of work to do to reach the semi-finals at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
The Black Caps kick off a daunting run of three matches in five days when they take on Scotland in Dubai, with Namibia and then Afghanistan to follow.
The last of those could end up being a straight shootout for a place in the last four, but Southee knows his team have more pressing matters before they start thinking about Afghanistan.
He said: “It was a great team effort the other night against a very strong India side. We’re very pleased with how that went. But now our focus, obviously, shifts to Scotland and three games in five days, which are three day-games as well, which is a challenge in itself.
“So as good a win as it was the other night, we know we have to park it and move on and look forward to a day game tomorrow against Scotland.
“I’ve played Scotland a couple of times over the years. It is a side we don’t get to play a lot. It’s always exciting times when you do get to play against a side that you haven’t played a lot against. But obviously they have been an improving side and a strong side, as you’ve seen throughout the early stages of this tournament.
“It’s obviously a little bit hotter for the guys (playing day matches). We’ve had a couple of day trainings. It is considerably warmer during the day than at night.
“There’s obviously no dew factor which you seem to be faced with in the night games here at the moment.
“I guess it’s just about what we do which is try to adapt to the conditions, adapt to the surface as quick as possible, and it may react differently during the day with it being a day game and quite a dry place. So I think it’s just about adapting and assessing and trying to make that change as quick as possible.”
For New Zealand, the target is to reach the semi-finals, whereas Scotland have already reached their goal by making it to the Super 12.
After the elation of winning all three matches in the first round, Scotland were well beaten by Afghanistan before a four-wicket loss to Namibia.
And for skipper Kyle Coetzer, who should make his return against New Zealand after shaking off a finger injury, it has been good to get a little break to put those defeats behind them before an intimidating run of matches against the Kiwis, India and Pakistan.
He said: “After two losses it was nice to have a couple of days off, actually, because it was pretty full on from leaving Oman to coming straight into some extra competition, and emotions were up and down. So taking a bit of time to just reflect on that and find our feet a little bit.
“The last couple of days we’ve had some practice where the guys have realigned themselves, gotten themselves prepared for what we’re going to face over the next couple of days, with obviously New Zealand starting tomorrow.
“The emotions were all very high getting through to the Super 12s. It was something that we set as a target, and we believed that we could do, getting through to Super 12s. When you get through, then there’s even more eyes on you and the pressure sort of just — that bar raises just that little bit further.”
Name of Author: ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body for cricket, founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference. Renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, it became the ICC in 1987. Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, the ICC has 108 member nations.
