Timeout LIVE | T20 World Cup 2024 | Group stage review with Stephen Fleming

What have Australia, India, England, West Indies, Afghanistan, South Africa, USA and Bangladesh got right in the first leg of the tournament and where can they improve as we get on to the business end of the T20 World Cup? Former NZ captain and CSK head coach shares his views.

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e introducing the Epic new Swift time to go [Music] swifting as the curtain comes down on the group stages it’s time once again for maruti Suzuki Arena presents ESPN Crick for timeout powered by Dish TV Watcher the Super Eight lineup is all set and confirmed courtesy what happened in group D earlier this morning we have the formality of closing out Group C as well when New Zealand will take on Papa new guine in a little while from now and the West Indies and Afghanistan close things off uh tomorrow morning before we have the super hes upon us right it’s time for more than just the game at hand it’s time to see Trends and patterns of the tournament to look ahead to to the business end now with the super AIDS so it’s my pleasure to very warmly welcome Steven Fleming and I am building this up to be the most exhaustive and insightful analysis of the World Cup that you will find you up for it FM yes quite right it’s a good time and night for it on that note let’s start with just the format uh it’s seen enough now and it’s seen an upset in the USA Story coming in something that you called pre-tournament are you liking the format has it already Vindicated itself yeah look I think so you have to go before the format and look at uh what it does to associate nations in particular and it gives them purpose this this format uh the IC have really put a lot of attention in developing um countries and Associate Nations and I think it’s doing its job because the years leading up to this there are tournaments there are programs there is purpose and It All Leads up to this so when you see associate Nations do well and compete and win uh I I think it’s it’s a good thing so it’s not just the format the format’s really important and having the these the sort of round robin where everyone gets settled and everyone is a bit nervous and everyone’s sort of waiting for the big dance of the super eights it’s actually the big dance for associate Nations if we’re dead serious about growing the game then this is a really important step and I think the way that the associate nations are played uh I think gives a lot of credibility so I’m really pleased to see that the way the format has enabled this to happen yeah a number of teams have stories to take home from this but a significant talking point through the group stages in the United States where there was certainly a push to want to try and spread the game make it more popular was the surfaces that we saw and how challenging they were for batting your impressions well they were challenging but you got to look at we conditioned um from the IPL straight after the IPL of scores an excessive 200 and and I I didn’t mind now that I don’t have to bat I didn’t mind seeing the struggle and what we did see during the the round robin stage was that the big headers got nullified there was there wasn’t the big cameos there wasn’t the players that could come out and just blast it from ball one there was craft involved and if you have a look at the scoreboards it was the players that that really had to knuckle down it was almost run a ball type of stuff New York in particular was was incredibly difficult there was still room for good batsmanship and that is something one of my concerns is that as we develop these T20 players generational T20 players that don’t perhaps have the background of first class Cricket or not a lot of it uh techniques are going to be challenged and what I sort of enjoyed in a morbid sort of way is watching some players struggle where it was quite difficult it’s a different type of game it’s a different spectacle is it entertaining well maybe not for the fan who’s going for the first time but for someone who’s looking for something different and looking to balance the scales at times it’s been I think quite exhilarating to watch some of the bowling but yeah I think the surfaces could be a little bit better but as far as the challeng is gone I’ve enjoyed watching the betters be challenged yeah I was just going to come to that was this the best the scales balanced or was it still lopsided I was surprised that in spite of the challenging conditions we did not see the likes of AIT the K Williamson Baba Azam guys who you’d expect to then become even more valuable also struggle yeah well it just shows that it was really difficult but again they are reconditioning themselves to to maybe the challenge and and a little bit unsure we talked about right backs of the the pre-tournament was how our team’s going to deal with the conditions and the first thing is actually getting to grips with the conditions analyzing them and getting them right and and what you saw that were teams were a little bit unsure of what they were going to get and that then leads to a little bit of apprehension and maybe a little bit of Doubt whereas other other grounds and other conditions around the world it’s just flat foot the foot flat and and forward we go at at gear number five so this one’s been interesting there’s been players who were trying to find the balance between their natural attacking game but also aware that it’s not that difficult so the two two trains of thought is one you just keep going and try and bash your way out of it or sink in and be comfortable to that run a ball and I I don’t think the game coming again coming out of the IPL has allowed players to adjust to that mindset quickly enough as yet as skills go from a bowling point of view or bowling plan point of view uh we always thought we used to hear this many times is almost a cliche if it’s a small Target you’ve got to bowl them out you can’t restrict them was that never applicable in T20 cricket or is that something we’re learning for this particular tournament where we’ve seen scores of sub 120 this morning even 105 106 defended at times without bowling the opposition out yeah it’s again conditioned base it’s it’s really difficult isn’t it if the bow was bow straight to generate any type of strike rate and uh and again one 120 can be a match winning score just because the the ability to play Shots is risky uh and then players as they get a little bit nervous because the ball’s hitting different parts of the bat they’re trying to find different ways to score it’s still probably on the low side so that you’d say that the the craft of betting is still not up to what it needs to be and again that comes back to mentality and a skill base that’s learned from from many years of playing Cricket some of the players now are playing key roles in T20 cricket are bought up on good wickets and only play T20 so you you’ve just got to balance the development of players but the players you mentioned the world class players I think some of them might go home Kan Williamson in particular unfortunately but some of them will will develop the right technique as the tournament goes on but as we go to to different venues um The Challenge Still Still Remains assessing conditions and then putting a game plan in place not just having one game plan that fits all will be the key to the team that wins you sensor Super Kings batting lineup would have performed better than most teams I’m not sure I think the bowlers would have like not going for 200 that’s for sure but it is tricky it has been a good challenge I I think there’d be a lot of talk about it certainly if it was a a Super Kings game a lot of talk about what would be the right score and how do we get it and I’m pretty sure that most of the think tanks and the the teams in the World Cup at the moment will be doing just that right let’s talk about New Zealand in Action a little while from now final game for Kan Williamson and Cohen it’s been a tournament that just did not start right has potentially been the biggest surprise or shock uh amongst the top teams to not make the super hits looking at how they’ve gone where do you think it went wrong well there’s been a lot of talk in New Zealand which you find interesting a lot of talk about the preparation um and a lot of a huge amount of attention about the lack of play for key players so the top three fin Allen dein Conway and C Williamson a real lack of of match practice and I think the criticisms that have been leveled at the team is that no warm-up games coming a bit late due to IPL commitments and just a little bit of confusion over how that warm-up period was going to look and a Little Bit of Sympathy to Gary Ste who’s trying to manage um High workloads from the IPL and also bringing a team together that has injuries and had has injuries to key players so there are some extenuating circumstances but uh I think New Zealand would wish that they had the draw the other way around they could have played two games against or Papa Guinea and um Oman Uganda and that that would have given them a little bit of time to settle the the other thing that was interesting was that they changed the team quite dramatically after the first game so they weren’t happy with the team they selected uh for the for the first game and then made some changes some of them would have been conditioned based but uh just that confusion a little bit unsettled was probably the the characteristic that came through of a what’s usually a really planned and usually really welld disciplined side so there’s been a lot of the feedback from New Zealand U from the critics in particular and it’s hard to really argue with that it was a it’s a faltering campaign but the other thing that hasn’t been done is to give Afghanistan enough credit I I thought they played an outstanding game they had conditions that that suited but they always threaten their their skill set and their ability to win big games now is starting to become more more familiar and I think they could still be a threat in this tournament so while New Zealand were underdone Afghanistan played I thought an outstanding game absolutely we’ll talk about Afghanistan in just a moment to wrap up on the New Zealand performance this tournament is it an aberation with what you mentioned the timing the IPL beforehand players undercook no preparation or is there a larger concern about potentially a team in transition with what a number of former players including yourself I’m sure have touted as one of the golden generations of New Zealand Cricket a number of players on their way out and I believe just the three players below 30 in the squad is there a concern for the longer future of T20 a cricket for New Zealand well I think not so long ago you were one that gave me criticism for picking a um a gold Nies team that I think won the IPL so you know my my view on experienced players I’m not worried about about Aid so much um the flip side of of having different combinations and you probably got to go back 24 months 18 months there’s been a lot of players in different combinations used in games and and probably one of my criticisms or work on for the New Zealand Think Tank would be maybe more games together something certainly at Chennai we look at that continuity of positions if you can is getting a team as settled as you can and then getting relationships because the game has it up and downs and if you can have a consistent partner or Partners at the other end batting wise in particular and bowling as well you get to know your job a lot better and you tend to have performances that dovetail with each other and and one thing New Zealand have done is they’ve used rest and rotation quite a bit with the the T20 format the positive of that is they’ve introduced a lot of players and even look at the the Pakistan series just before the World Cup and they were played very well in Pakistan there’s a lot of young players through there so the development of young players introduction of young players I’m not too worried about there some good talent coming through it’s now going to be managing the transition of of this team that’s done incredibly well with the young players that are coming through so talent wise for once I think New Zealand’s in not a bad position all right you don’t forget do you I’m an elephant Ken Williamson’s future in the format as Captain and player well it hasn’t really been questioned over here and that’s Judo is as genius with with the bat but he will be looking to obviously contribute more and he has to make a decision now after a disappointing World Cup what do his future hold is it all three formats is it uh franchise Cricket is it family time so he will be getting to that point where he starts making some decisions that have other influences whereas before it was cricket and Cricket only now there will be other aspects of life that will be creeping in so only he knows that and he will be afforded the the luxury of time with that because he’s earned it with being our generational player and you he’ll be hurting a lot about this I’m pretty sure that he and a number of the the older New Zealand players would have looked at this opportunity as a as maybe their last or a good one to to to put all their skills and experience into play but because it hasn’t be he might be yep I’ll move on or I’m going to steal up and make sure I I write the wrongs for the next one um he’s he’s not a guy that gives away a lot so it’ll be interesting to see what he does all right let’s talk about Afghanistan you already have high praise for them rightly so they marked improvement in I ACC men’s events back to back terrific in the last 50 over World Cup and they look like a threat going into the Super HS like you mentioned what Impressions do you make of a team that is on such a rapid race well for one they have skill and they have some of the most skillful players in the world rashed Khan has been one of the best players in this format for some time for some years and and he is uh probably created another generation of of skillful players coming through they’re unorthodox uh they lack fear uh pred Nally from the the top order down they’ve got players that that have the ability to take on the game if there was one criticism of Afghanistan it was perhaps holes within that first 11 that that teams could exploit if they got rid of the top players but now they’re filling those holes and you’ve got all around players that have that are filling those holes that incredibly skillful they’re getting opportunities around the world in tournaments and their experience experience and their development is is now rapid enough and quick enough that when they put their top side out they’re they’re incredibly talented so they good side to watch as well from farooqi swinging the ball To Go’s opening that they’ve got some some real talent which I think a lot of people around the world are enjoying this story and enjoying the the way in which they’re playing the game yeah the rise of Afghanistan is one story in this group and there’s a resurgent West Indies which is the other they had an important game to seal New Zealand’s fate and they have looked one of the threatening teams do they take all boxes though are they still concerns they have found themselves uh on the matter games with top order collapses yeah I I I think they’re going okay I there is an area and you’re did right the top order batting you would say is has been underwhelming so far but maybe the conditions which has dogged a lot of teams throughout this tournament to date has uh has been a contributing factor they got some Talent there but I’ve yet to really see them Flix at muscle there’s no doubt they’ve got power with pal and Russell and Rutherford who was outstanding in the New Zealand game um and um Shepherd down the down the order they’ve got talents and power they just need to make sure that they’ve got couple of guys the Brandon Kings who just and and poron plays probably more I hate to say it circumspect but more Innings of note so they get a bit of volume out of the top three tournaments are won by the top three batters who get a volume of runs in most cases and if uh if West Indies can get Johnson Charles firing as well then then they will look a lot better I I there’s still some question mark and they need to play well against Afghanistan it’s a nice way to finish this round robin just to measure where they are um but I go back to the home condition South Africa is the other team that I had in that bracket around making um the semifinals won these are right there but I just need to see a little bit more all right let’s move to group a India were expected to top their group India have topped their group but we then we started looking at realities and not speculation once we saw what they had in mind we spoke before the tournament last FL and now we’ve seen that they did go pretty tournament with the plan they’ll have Roan Ki open they’ll bat p three while we may not have seen the big scores from them take me through how you rate that move and whether you see it continuing job done they had to make some hard calls at just while was a great player that’s leaving out quality top quality players is is always difficult and and having a plan and you stay to it when you’ve got great players sitting on the sideline is always um is always very difficult because it’s tempting to to keep looking um where the grass is greener but I I like the job they’ve done they’ve got through this is a team that in some ways has picked for the finals in my view it’s a a team that that has Spinners that can dominate it has um players that can dominate Spin and we’ve seen spin in the West Indies play quite a big part not so much in New York so I I think they’ve got job done and they’ve got quite smartly a view of mind this is how we want to play the key games now going into hopefully the semi-finals final and if you work backwards and say this is the team want for the final because these are the conditions I think and then work backwards then this looks some way what R and the boys have done theyve picked a team that that they think we maybe playing a tunning track uh this will give us our best chance at the top and and has good balance and and and we’ve seen that sort of in stops and starts and it’s just been because of conditions but I think they’re in good shape yeah conditions therefore demanded perhaps that they play the extra SEMA specialist SEMA in in New York uh which we expect changing to a spinner you see India going in with K yadov yeah look I think so but they’ve still got that opportunity now to do both um which is good and and horses for courses you can’t be so Ste in one way of playing that you miss the opportunities to take advantage of conditions as you say but yeah I would think maybe K de would come in to provide that that extra bit of wicket taking flare um if the wickets do do provide the turn as they get a little bit more used and you get closer to the end of the tournament we feel like rindra tournament has hasn’t really kickstarted akar Patel’s been given more ball time and bat time in the group stage so far India are likely to play two left arm spinning allr rounders in the same side and anything that we can read into why they’ve not perhaps had more to do with Jer I I don’t think so sometimes it’s hard to to manage two two players to do the same thing Mitch setner and um and judu S of do the same role for us and we sometimes find it hard around selection to to get eight overs of exactly the same skill set they are different B they Bowl differently but both of them when conditions are right can be a real handful so with their all round skills and their batting skills it allows inded to try that and um and judu in in the right conditions with the PAC City balls can be incredibly dangerous which we’ve seen over many years as xar can provide a different type of attack if conditions are slightly different like in New York so they’re both uh there subtleties around them both but again and I hate that notion of left-handers can’t Boulder left leftand batters so we can dispel that myth and both of those players can hopefully play a role if you had to pick a hole in this team is there a obvious vulnerability not not really and neither they should because there’s so much talent really to to pick from the vulnerability would have come from New York where the ball’s going to seam around and and from the pace bowling point of view have a little bit of uneven bounce but they dealt with that quite well the last game was I thought very mature the way they chased down the title so they got through that and I would expect if conditions are playing in some of the key venues um like we expect them to do then uh they should have all bases covered and that I thought the danger period was really New York where we had no idea how it was going to play and then dealing with the the challenges that were there they did that quite well so I would expect this side and and the talent they’ve got to get a Little Bit Stronger right story of the group though is the United States you called it that America was a team that you were looking forward to three tourn yep and uh I’m just trying to think now whether this can actually Propel the popularity of the sport or is there still a lot of work to be done in that regard well look I think it helps no doubt it helps it certainly caused a stir in the cricket Community but that’s not where we want the stir we want the stir to be the The Wider American Sports community and that’s what the ials were trying to were trying to get to the game um it’s got to help there’s got to be some some news and without being over there and amongst it I’m unsure how how big the would have been but certainly it would have helped um it would have generated some interest at the least but it would have generated I hope some excitement for the rest of the tournament and you go back to the purpose of having the Associates in this part of the competition and and this is perfect you cannot ask for more if you’re trying to develop the game in an area to have that local team go forward and and play an outstanding game of Cricket the game against Pakistan was was Sensational and and what you have to try and do is create superstars in your country because that then will take maybe some athletes from other sports and put them into cricket and that’s that’s how long it’s going to take it’s going to be a generation of young players who are inspired by the American USA team at the moment and what they’re able to do and if if if those performances and that performance against Pakistan has done that then it’s a huge one South Africa West Indies and England in that same superate group as the United States do they have one more upset in them are either of those teams likely to be a story again for United States oh you’d be surprised and it’s going to come down to to conditions if if they were able to get in a situation where conditions again got really tricky and the thing is you’re dealing now that the top teams it’s mindset it’s almost banan skin they they know they’ve got everything to lose whereas it seemed like USA have nothing to lose so if they get conditions that go their way and are a little bit tricky that’s when they can pose a real threat and play on the nerves of the of one of the top sides but they they have to play well there is enough skill there to create that doubt but it’s whether they can do it for long enough and put these top teams under pressure and you just feel going away now going into um into the superate phase and you get conditions which are a little bit more settled uh it will be a bit more difficult but with a bit of rain around as well there might be the opportunity to um to pounce and they’re good enough to do that that that’s the exciting thing okay this is easy Pakistan give me your three-point program reviewing and previewing doing the road map ahead for what’s been a a tournament that’s had plenty of emotion and and opinion come through from former Pakistan players but it’s incredible what’s happened yeah it is incredible what’s happened and I don’t think it’s just this tournament in isolation you you look back over the last probably 12 months and and performances have been really inconsistent their um their last tournament against New Zealand was really underwhelming as well so there’s there’s a performance aspect that that’s missing and you go right back to the whole structure and you just wonder why there has there hasn’t been a lot of change within Cricket Personnel but there’s been a huge amount of change around the whole um Cricket setup in Pakistan from government down selectors coaches there’s a huge amount of transition and change and and that has to have its effect now I commend the Pakistan team for not changing that much and keeping that Personnel that’s a good thing but there seems to be an element of of individualism that that goes along with their play when they’re under pressure result SS back to um a certain style of play that some ways protects their position rather than pushing it forward and T20 is a game of no fear we’ve heard a lot of teams talk about that and and Pakistan just seemed held down by doubt if it’s not fear then it’s a little bit of doubt and it’s just going to take a bit of courage and not only with selections but also with playing style to get them out of it but unfortunately this tournament again is highlighted that Under Pressure they they just are inaccurate they’ve got one of the best bowling lineups in the competition fast Bing lines in the competition no doubt and watching those those boys Bowl Yorkers and and get a bit of reverse swing there is absolute opportunity there to to be world’s best so you’ve got to look at mindset and you’ve got to look at Under Pressure what they’re doing and they’re just not accurate enough it’s just small lack of planning or it’s just lack of cohesion between team tactics captain and bowler and then with the bat it it’s just there’s some random mistakes that aren’t in line with a good game plan and a an ability to stand the now it’s it’s just a little bit random and it’s really unpredictable Pakistan have been unpredictable in the past but they’ve also been incredibly skillful and Incredibly aggressive as well um and that’s just lacking so rights throughout the cricket the aggressive nature with the bat and the accuracy with the ball and and they’ll be incredibly disappointed by it but I’m a little bit worried that performances have been below par for a while that um there’s enough excuses around for them to get away with it but that’s such a b side than that they have so much talent there that that needs to be untapped so huge job for Gary Kirsten and the coaching staff and and unfair really to to label one tournament just on the um the lack of influence of those guys it will take a little bit of time you can’t help but think that captaincy is and Leadership is such a big part of Pakistan cricket success regardless of what happens off the field and therefore the question on Babar aam with everything that went down with the captaincy flip flopping from him to shahen and his own batting form is is he still the right man to take them forward in your opinion well I don’t know it’s something that that has to be questioned you have to look and be involved in the camp to know the influence of of of of different players and different leaders within it’s going to take more than just a captaincy stripes on one person it’s going to be a an overhaul around the leadership aspects of the team and within and and everyone going the same direction the flip-flopping doesn’t help um but neither should it be just on on a captain C or a captain pulling you out of it you’ve got some um some inspirational captains in world cricket but they also have a good group of leaders underneath so it’s getting someone who’s going to tie it all together and and then the talk of no fear and fearless Cricket will be able to perhaps be explored but uh when you still a little bit unsure of where your place is and where your seniority or your leadership stands it’s very hard to get a plan around that so it does start at the top uh unfortunately and BBA will have to make a big call if he thinks he’s still got more uh more in him and and more that he thinks he can push this team forward then then he will will push for his spot but others might have another say on that so it’s going to be interesting to watch but whenever there’s underperformance or disappointment around a national side it uh it does take a little bit of time and often a little bit of turmoil before the dust settles all right let’s move to Group B Australia the standout team there had an excellent game against England they did have to work hard in phases against both Oman and Scotland flim uh stus looks great form they’ve got runs from batters on and off otherwise uh is there any vulnerability around the spin thread getting more and more going into the Super rates now how good do Australia look what are the holds yeah again job done and they’ve done it really well they they got through that last game which was a good test Scotland were were excellent in that game and uh Australia were were a little bit I won’t say casual that’s that’s the wrong word but they were just a little bit uh low I think Matthew Hayden in commentary talked about the 1% is that that Australia Pride themselves on the drop catches in the field the running between the wickets so a little bit under in terms of the intensity they usually operate but good enough to get the job done the the one thing they want to see is performance from Glenn Maxwell because he is a very good player of spin bowling well an aggressive player of spin bowling and if Australia uh to combat some of the spin conditions we are expecting then he will need to find some form and also some technique around uh how he’s going to play or M more than technique around how positive or how big a contribution he will make in that that key role so he he would be one area not of concerned but of work on because they just need to get him right if Australia going to file on on on all cylinders to to take on spin through the middle they need him to be going well but the guys around him looking good Marsh will come right um Warner will be tested but um he’s showing time and time again the more he’s tested the where he comes through and he it’s just been Dynamic so they’ve got enough Firepower throughout that the bowling sounds Amper is in outstanding form with the ball and um and they will they will assess conditions and do that well so watch for Maxwell’s form and and he will be the icing on the cake if they can get him going all right let’s talk about England seems like the defending Champions took a little bit of time figuring out their best team if it’s fair to say reople came in belatedly they went back to one of wood and Archer and not both wood and Archer which we thought could be an X Factor selection they also went a batter light which may have only been for the rain ctail game against Namibia but are England in good enough shape are they still as threatening a force going into the Super hes where they’ve just about sneaked in yeah I I think the fact that they got past this point you go back to the the one day World Cup and and then they lose the lose a game to Scotland in terms of the rain and and all of a sudden it starts opening up the wounds again a little bit they they’re close to to being on the edge mwin games and then potentially rain there was a lot going on that was that that was quite disruptive to or in their mind and they cope with it pretty well they did a Dem demolition job to get their their run rate up and um and then they played a good R game yeah and they played a nice rain game against Samia so they they did the job and they did it pretty well they they will be feeling pretty good uh nervous watch against Australia and Scotland but they will feel um will’ll get a new win from now getting to the stage where they need to be I I think there are enough good signs maybe W an Archer will come back for certain games they will be looking at the surfaces and what uh what will be the the best whether it’s a bit of Swing left arm swing or whether it’s going to be the pace they’ll be working that out but they’ve got the options which is why they’re always a a team up there in the the sort of the top four again if you get Butler and and beow and and Brooke and and these guys going um there’s certainly enough Firepower in the batting as well so yeah they just got the job done which is important and now they should just put try and put the the foot down and and give it a good crack which I think they will that that shorten game they ended up leaving will Jax out with best or batting three Brook four is that closer to batting them in positions that they should even though it’s a b late yeah maybe it might just be the shter the shorter game it’s hard to know that um the thinking around that you can never take too much away from that will Jackson interesting one is dynamic form at times for for Bangalore who played a couple of great Innings but there’s also some misses in there as well and that’s something that he needs to work on that consistency especially in that that top order spot uh and maybe they just feel there’s a little bit more consistency from getting BTO up in a more familiar position for him it’d be interesting to to hear or understand a little bit more about that or whether it was just the rain shortened game but it’s something to watch as they try and fit those pieces together uh and they got to do it quickly so the next game I I think we’ll tell a lot all right let’s move to Group D South Africa England one of England’s opponents in the super hits they’ve won four out of four it wasn’t easy there were some near misses there they could have lost to Nepal they could have lost to Bangladesh uh thoughts on whether South Africa are the force that we expected them to be well again I’m just going to say J job done just because playing your games in New York it was it was difficult to get I thought any confidence betting wise and they they just uh they got through basically how the conditions were which were unpredictable and they just you’re right they just did enough the the power players got taken out of play to some degree class and play one Innings of of substance which was good but they will need again a little bit more from their top order and and it’s a little bit symptomatic of every side that played in New York that uh it came down to just scraping as many runs as you could so that subtlety of the track can never be underestimated because it’s setting different parts of the bat all the time and you’re not feeling in you’re just trying to gauge how how aggressive can I be or is it just me am I out of form so you have a whole lot of feelings um tapping into your confidence in your that circle is it me should I get out should I play aggressive so it’s really hard to judge the teams that have only played in in one set of conditions so far or predominantly in one set of conditions how they’re going I think they’ll be relieved to get on potentially better tracks and then again it’ll be a case of looking at um all all the sum of all parts that they’ve got I like their balance I think they’ve got an excellent team and uh if their confidence is up and they just look at the the round robin just as that to get to the stage and the confidence is good I I think they’ll be a threat they’ve got um good good power throughout their batting they’ve got some smart players at the top and if they get a bit of confidence through that order then they got the bowling to certainly back that up so yeah they’re right in that bracket of that the the semi-finals I always huming hard right back to when I was asked about the top four between South Africa and West Indies and I’m still sort of in that position it seems like they are playing their best batting side um and they we expect them to have a better time of fit in better conditions as far as their best bowling side goes you’d idly love to see shami and mahaj if spin is going to play a big part in the Caribbean together noia and Bartman seem their best seamers Jansen provides all round abilities is it possible to fit shami and Mahajan if even if it’s at the expense of RAB yes yep and that’s you just again got to go back to your assessment and say look we we we have enough Firepower if it’s asking for Spin and spin is your best way of getting wickets and play your spiners you got Mark in there as well just absolutely absorb yourself into the conditions in front and don’t be too Bound by a traditional way of thinking if if this is the way you think it’s going to play and this is our best way of getting uh a restricted score or to bowl a team out then to just find a way and they’ll be looking a lot at what’s happened in the previous games there haven’t been many or a huge sample to go by but even the small idea of of how a ground’s going to play which way the wind’s going to ballent Lucia the the wind going one way and how you can then put your Bowlers into play your Spinners into play or your your Quicks into play so that aspect of the tournament is going to be really interesting to watch over the the next couple of weeks because the players that are left out um are just as interesting as the players they play because uh that could be the difference between getting the tactics right or wrong it’s going to be really interesting it’s going to be some head scratching trust me from the think tanks before before some of the games coming up I’m glad you I’m glad you brought that up especially for St Lucia which we’re seeing now is perhaps uh with the little evidence we’ve had the best venue for batting we’ve had we’ had big scores there already and we have some Blockbuster fixtures there England West Indies England South Africa India Australia all play at St Lucha we’ve seen it to be this open-sided Stadium where the boundaries come in do players sometimes get sucked into the win Factor uh things to keep in mind tactically as you look at as you mentioned that venue yeah definitely and and even right back to S to selections is making sure that you’ve got both ends covered you’ve got a it might be a defensive Bower that can can do some a good job using the wind or having players hit into the wind so that that type of bowler whether it’s a left arm variation or a spinner that will take the ball away so that the players when they take the boundary on will be going into the wind and and often it if it’s if you’re lucky the wind will protect a short side so even though it’s a smaller in dimension there’s still an opportunity to attack because the wind and the wind can blow through there can be just as effective as a short boundary and and batter is often look at just as the B size but rather the the the wind effect can be um can be greater than that and just like protecting a big side so making sure a defensive bowler or defensive end can can be well protected so a lot goes into conditions and making sure the balance of the side will have different types of Bowlers to uh to complement each end all right let’s talk about Bangladesh in a tournament where we keep saying spin’s going to play a big part it’s amazing that story from Bangladesh is their fast Bowlers have actually kept them alive even when the Batters have disappointed this morning they had a scare against against Nepal we’ seen tanid Hassan Shak become one of the standout Bowlers of the tournament Musta isan who you spent a lot of time with there a case to be made that he came into the IPL as an outof form bowler and he’s just found his mojo back thoughts he has and he’s been quite outstanding is statistically He is unbelievable with what he’s done um it’s no real surprise that when the conditions are a little bit unpredictable and there’s a little bit of Bounce or a little bit of slowness uh he’s quite extraordinary and and if anything it’s about slowing him down and simplifying his game he’s a very skillful bowler and has a number of options but getting him to realize that depending on conditions you only need a couple to work well as slow ball is still very hard to pick everyone has seen it for a number of years but when his arm speed is good it’s still really deceptive and that can often be good on a good surface but really potent on a on a uneven surface so he’s been using that well and his form and his his ball speed during the IPL got up it was um good rests good Fitness and uh and when he played we kept emphasizing keeping it simple and using ball speed for his main his main delivery if he’s got go good ball speed there then his um the deception of the slow ball comes into play and he’s just continue that form on which has been good but again you look at the top order batting of Bangladesh and and you need more these guys won’t be able to win the game uh for Bangladesh through this super eight phace because teams would be a bit better but uh they just need that top order I’ll stress the top three if you can need to get a majority of the runs then it just brings guys down the order to play those those Cameo roles and that’s where you’re going to see higher scores than you’ve seen But whilst it’s hard at the top you’re going to see scores that are probably below power or or a middling score that that won’t win enough games to win the tournament is it a similar story for Sri Lanka who find themselves out at the group stage and if I could say it almost doesn’t seem like a surprise or a shock anymore with the Sri Lankan teams performances at ICC Benz events you’ve got a couple of your Super Kings boys there as Bowlers too but is Sri Lanka a concern going forward with their batting yeah yep 100% and again that’s without knowing enough um I know Chris pretty of from playing with them back in the day but one of the challenges there is is getting the players in the right spot and and and just form the the batting through that top five top six has just been underwhelming they’ve got a good bowling attack they’ve got some unusual bowlers some unorthodox Bowlers that given some runs to play with can be quite Dynamic we’ve seen that well I’ve certainly seen that firsthand with with Chennai but again if you’re going to underperform with the bat you can’t expect uh your Bowlers to keep chasing the game and uh it looks to lack of confidence as well just a lack of understanding around how to compose or how to put together a match winning score and and that can often just be confidence it’s got a lot to do with conditions as well but confidence can play a big part sometimes you have to to Bluff your way through it unfortunately for shanka again they they’ve just come up short and they’re much better side than that I thought that was going to be a really difficult uh group to to to get through I thought South Africa might be in trouble given conditions I thought we’re going to be a little bit more spin based but um as it’s turned out Sri Lanka have sort of folded over quite weakly all right do you want to play a game FM love to play game you’re advising R Ravid for the one thing that India needs to focus on to make the semis is there one thing that you think will decide whether they go there or not oh they just got to be calm they they they play Under so much pressure and expectation that uh they just need to stay calm and and theyve been in these situations enough to do that but it still needs reinforcement that that just be calm and actually play down the the scenarios rather than amp it up I think the more low key you are in big situations the more you be natural and uh and allow your your skills to come through it’s just backing your key players I I wouldn’t get too unett I’ll be quite conservative now with the team that’s picked and U there might be a couple of tweaks here and there as we discussed around Spin and sing but boys is just staying calm all right if I’m Andrew McDonald and I text you for Australia the one thing to focus on to make the semis uh I’d go for a game of golf with maxi and just stress the importance of uh of his next couple couple of weeks and forget anything that’s gone before and just assess where he’s at I think Andrew McDonald’s got a really good feel for player management um and I would just think that that getting alongside Maxi and and pumping up his tires as much as possible and and emphasizing the the role and importance that that he’s going to play and and make sure that he he knows that and has no doubt last time you played a game of golf he played one of the great Innings of all time in an ICC men’s event and the same opposition comes at the super rates in the former of Afghanistan speaking of Afghanistan from Jonathan Trot serious chance to make the semis and make a serious story out of this ADV keep it simple it’s it’s almost the Temptation is to try and do more whereas what they’re doing is has been really good they’re doing the simple things really well make sure the Fielding is up to scratch but don’t try and be anything more than what they’ve done so far don’t try ball faster swing it more just be really accurate um understand what has worked so far the first thing understand what will work in those conditions and then just sink into a simple game plan the natural skill of of of the players will come through so don’t again need to ramp up the the game plan and and try and be uh be something that you’re not just stay the way you’re going stay nice and calm and understand that the way you’re playing is going to be good enough to compete all right if I’m Matthew Martin England if I ask you what’s my best team we’re finding my best team so actually really getting with Justin saying right what is our best combination maybe best 12 and then just lock it in and this is the way we’re going to play and then let those players know this is how we’re going to play and this is what we’re going to do again there might be some changes with conditions but it’s time now to to just lock down a game plan and and positions uh and and almost unleash them it might be a little bit of I guess nerves that I hope have gone now that they’re in the super eights and just go and play with the the flare we’re at their absolute best where they’re just natural and uh ball striking even if it’s difficult conditions just playing without fear and that’s been a symptom um where it’s been a a strength of the test side and that will flow through to a lot of these players in the one day side okay Rob Walter in the South Africa squad one thing that they need to make sure they do to make the semis uh not over complicate things and and just make sure that uh they have players that are again it’s a really common message from my text back to all these coaches is making sure uh that everything is is is simple they understand that the nature of the round robin is completely different to what they’re going into and look forward to playing on better surfaces train well don’t overtrain don’t over complicate things there is a temptation to be a little bit structured within the the South African Cricket mindset so making sure it’s nice and simple and then tap into the experience that’s there and there’s a lot from the cck right down there’s some some world players that are itching to perform on a world stage together and win it and it’s just keeping that that temptation to get too far ahead of themselves down and just play each game as it comes but doing in a a relaxed mindset and uh in an uncomplicated way and finally Darren Sammy in the West Indies uh excitement I just think embrace the moment and just use the rhythms of the Caribbean to just to play their best cricket and give it an absolute shot so don’t get too too caught up with trying to be technically good or play the conditions just play the natural game and and let that flare come through absolutely at their best when uh in Rhythm and sink with the game and uh and and play with a smile on the face so that is where Hometown Advantage can be a benefit if they absorb The rhythms of the crowd and the the colors and the excitement of the experience and um and that I would think and have experiences when wi and these teams are at their best all right you’ve this is more of an educated guest now but you already good with this pre-tournament your top four if you’d like to revisit it ahead of the super HS Australia or englands India and I really have a strong bracket with the West IND these South Africa um I I really want to do this after the West Indies Afghanistan game so reserve the right to go on social media and change it but right at this point I am I am still I still have to stay with the in because of Home ground Advantage they play in Antiga it’s a night game in Antiga we’ve seen a bit more bounce in case that still there still the W still the West isn’t [Laughter] it all right I’ll I’ll make sure I put that out at the end of it okay uh and finally before we wrap things up it’s time for some fan questions we’ve already covered uh whether the kiwis could have come in better prepared for the T20 World Cup from Warren let’s take this one from anik this refers to the Bangladesh South Africa game where this incident was U became a talking point your take on the dead ball Saga after being given out on an lbw but then the decision gets overturned on the DRS and the subsequent leg buys don’t count as runs uh thoughts on whether that needs to be Revisited yes yes it does and it’s been brewing in the create Community for a while what Earth uh and unfortunately these things have the habit of popping up with the most unfortunate time uh um so yes it does need to be Revisited because as as we know in finals these quirky decisions can play a key part okay this is fun from Muhammad Nadim uh is are you interested in coaching the national team have asked I don’t know which team Muhammad adim is talking about but are you up for a national team job uh I’m I’m not um if I was it would be it would be New Zealand but I really enjoy the franchise Cricket I enjoy the balance that I have with home life with family and still being involved in the game which I’m very lucky to do it’s not that I I don’t want to do a national uh a national team but it’s just balancing time and at the moment I’m I’m very lucky to have a a franchise that employs me and I get to do it around the world so I’m happy at this stage you know I was this close to filling out that Google form for the internet coach application with your name on it speaking of franchise cricket from Sid how excited are you to work with Aiden Marram for the Texas Super Kings thoughts on that yeah I’m really excited um he’s he’s an outstanding player I we I saw him at in full flight against us in the semi-final um in the South African T20 league and he smashed it everywhere he’s outstanding I I’d love to see him free up a bit more and um and show the world that he’s what he’s capable of he’s does stops and starts but he’s an outstanding player he’s also a very handy bowler um as well so yeah I’m really looking forward to working with him at Texas and seeing him perform well there and then lose form for the South African T20 in January hopefully all right uh the mystical me your thoughts on The Comebacks of both jof Archer and rishab pant I think Risha pant’s story is is quite inspirational that the challenge is is is getting back to to the Pinnacle of the game which he’s done done it well now his challenge is to uh is to perform he knows that and and the pressure um can sometimes be pushed to one side because the story is so good but he will want to do well it’s not just getting back to international cricket he wants to be uh a big performer in the international game again and um I think it’s fascinating great to watch and uh a massive fan so very very pleased to see him back playing the game at the the high level uh and now watching as he he has a chance at the highest level to uh to do it again so a great story and and I’m really happy about joffer Archer because he another team that I’m with the southern Brave have joffer as a a player and we haven’t had the services of him yet so fingers crossed he gets through but I’m again delighted to see an exciting bowler and a good fast bowler back in play you never like to see a talent sitting on the sidelines or have succession or successive injuries so it’s good to see him back playing and I hope the fitness stays up all right Ryan Ali Khan do you think verat kohi should go back to number three no I like ver a COI opening I think um I think he can control an innings in a game he has the ability to play uh all types of innings he can control pace and the more balls that he’s there for I think it allows others to to do their thing so the volumer runs in the top three and then just work on use their experience to get the timing of that right and the the pace of the game right but uh allows others to come in and do their thing all right and the final question I’m not surprised will mson play the next IPL or not he won’t he won’t play the next game in the World Cup I can guarantee that seeing that was that was as good a review and a look ahead to the super eights as I could have asked for many thanks to you to staying up late and giving us your time and your thoughts look forward to catching up again with you soon well stay up late for you buddy thank you mate it’s time now to look ahead also to the final game of the group stage West Indies and Afghanistan y ja caught up with Ian Bishop so let’s hear Bish’s thoughts and we will of course see you again very soon on maruti Suzuki Arena presents ESPN R for timeout powered by Dish TV watcho Bish thank you so much for your time always a pleasure having you with us West Indies and Afghanistan have successfully got New Zealand out which doesn’t happen too often at World Cups and they are through to the Super Eight not a lot riding on this game but an ideal test for both these teams heading into the business stretch of this competition yes yes thanks for having me yeah a number of narratives at play in that um It’s the final game before both the teams go into the Super Eight and you can look at several factors that Afghanistan’s batting which has been very reliant on the opening batters they would want to find out further if some of the middle order although Rashid Khan says they’re informed if they can have some time out in the middle both teams will want to win to keep their confidence going and it also depends on whether guys like alari Joseph and stuff uh whether guys need rest or whether you want to see new faces so a number of narratives and there’s no one way of approaching it lots of key battles within this the obvious one is the Afghanistan Spinners against West Indies power hitters uh how big a say do you expect that to have with Rashid and N lining up against the likes of P R and pow it’s obviously going to be an entertaining aspect of the contest um Rasheed and no and those guys are are obviously world class particularly rased and I rate norit highly How the West Indies batters and particularly the guys who have specific roles and you mention Nicholas pande as one example of a guy who will have a specific role of either taking down or negotiating that spin Rost and Chase then also can come into play so that’s one half of it and I know we’re going to get into the other half of it that Afghanistan and not just uh a one-trick pony as far as their bowling is concerned absolutely you’ve teed me up there because F faruki has been on fire 12 wickets uh telling displays in each of Afghanistan’s three outings and you’ve also seen in West Indies last outing that Trent bold did trouble them so farooqi against the West Indian top order another mouthwatering matchup I would think that from the guys that I’ve seen the left arm seamers around the park today I know Mel Stark is a all-time great uh but in terms of the variety of skill set the guy who can swing it genuinely swing it in both directions I would think I’m struggling to find another one who can compete with fle haak farooqi on that level I’m not talking about numbers uh I’m not talking about history I’m talking about someone who swings it each way and fazle hat farooqi to me I know Trent Boo has that cutter that three4 ball I’m talking about genuine seam upright swinging the ball fazel hak faruki is right up there on that list so yes the left arm SEMA is worth his price in Gold Western are going to have to negotiate that wonderful Navin Noak is there as well om maai if he plays is another one who’s skillful um and the West Indies have some question question s to answer themselves with their batting which I neglected to say um they’ve had some kind of low scores has done some wonderful work with chaane rord for him so some other battles in that West Indies lineup have to come through so would you want uh West Indies to try some of their bench strength would you want some game time for someone like a head meire or a hope as far as batting options go and even the two Pacers were on the bench OED McCoy and Shamar Joseph yeah look it depends on how Darren Samy and ran Powell see it alzari has been playing a lot of cricket uh he was outstanding in that game against New Zealand he bowled as well as I’ve ever seen him Bowl in this format in that particular game so if he has any niggles or anything like that or if he deserves a rest and that’s a discussion they will have to have they could give him a break he might just say look my rhythm is good I just want to keep playing it would be nice though not necessarily for me shamal Joseph but would be nice if Obed McCoy as a left arm seamer who is ahead of Shamar Joseph having played against South Africa in the previous series that’s OED McCoy if he gets a run and you can find out if necessary um if he could come into the tournament at some stage and someone like a A hetm or more so she hope um if you’re looking at Johnson Charles if Charles doesn’t fire sooner rather than later you want to have another option there with game time just in case that happens final question Bish on the evidence of what you’ve seen in this group so far who to you are the favorites going into this one and what sort of effect will the result of a game like this have on the morale of the teams going into the Super Eight yeah favorites um I would say I wouldn’t go with who the favorites because Afghanistan have had the better of the record between the teams in recent years um but I would think that both teams have work to do with their batting Afghanistan very reliant on their top two so far in the tournament um I would think being at home I would say they have the edge it’s not a big Edge but I would think the West Indies have the edge in my mind not in other people’s mind in my own mind um the way they’ve been bowling if they play the same lineup that played against New Zealand um moral boosting yes because you have to look at it this way would you rather lose would would losing have a Nega more negative impact than winning I think definitely if you go down in this game you might be asking yourself one or two questions going into the Super Eight so you want to win but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t so preferentially of course for anyone you want to be the Victor in this contest all right let’s see who does end up Victorious and finish top of the group although that will have no Bearing West Indies and avganistan both already know where they’ll be placed in the super AIDS thank you so much and Bishop for setting up the game for us [Applause] introducing the Epic new Swift time to go swifting [Music]