Jonathan Trott & Ryan Cook speak following Afghanistan's win over Netherlands

Jonathan Trott & Ryan Cook speak following Afghanistan's win over Netherlands in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

[Reporter:]

Tell us about the partnership between Hashmatullah and Rahmat. What was the discussion going on at that stage? 55/2 and then they're getting to add 70+ runs and clinically approaching a chase once again.

[Jonathan Trott:]

Yeah I think it’s just about getting themselves in and not forgetting to score as well. Looking to score I think. Trying to be positive and looking to score boundaries and look to put the pressure on the bowler in their own way through their own skills and then waiting and making sure as well, capitalizing when they get a chance to hit a boundary. I thought the way that they played. I know Rahmat’s very disappointed not to have you know been there at the end. But I thought the way that Azmat came in and played as well was great. And it's good to see the captain there hitting the winning runs and batting through again.

[Reporter:]

In Pune, it was Ibrahim who said that he dedicated his Player of the Match award to the Afghani refugees. Today your captain made a big statement. Is there any kind of talk between the team in the dressing room about what is happening with the Afghani refugees back in Pakistan? Is there any kind of talk?

[Jonathan Trott:]

I think the players are attuned with everything that's going on back home, whether it's an earthquake and other things. So they realize, and I think they're enjoying the joy that they're giving to the Afghan people and the smile that they currently have on their face in the changing room, but also the smiles that's giving everybody else. That's the great thing about sport and being able to touch people in far further afield than just here in the stadium or in this country, but back home as well.

[Reporter:]

Three consecutive victories, three consecutive successful chases and every successful chase had the captain leading from the front. So could you please summarize all these experiences, these three wins on the trot, given that you lost back-to-back games when the campaign started in the World Cup?

[Jonathan Trott:]

I think we saw a bit of form coming into the side against India. Obviously we lost the game but then that gave us a bit of confidence. I said we'd lost so many close games leading into the series against Pakistan and then in the Asia Cup. I just said we just need to start 1-1 or 2 and we'll get that confidence and belief and a bit of a spring in our step and that we can win those close games but also dominate games if we get the opportunity to.

So again there's certain things today we need to get better. We need to improve on for the next game against Australia in Mumbai. But I saw a lot of good things as well that's going to stand us in good stead going forward against the likes of Australia and South Africa the next two games.

Plenty to work on but also plenty to be pleased about and excited about flying to Mumbai tomorrow with another victory and two days of practice and ready for the match.

[Reporter:]

So do you think this unit has cracked the code of chasing in Indian conditions?

[Jonathan Trott:]

I'm very wary to say that you can crack anything with regards to the game of cricket. As soon as you think you've cracked this game, it cracks you back, trust me. But I think we should be confident in everything we do, everything that we've done we should take with us, but also analyse the things and areas we need to work on. So today I thought our fielding was good, we improved on that and we got some good run outs and we were presented with opportunities and we took them. And that's all you can do when you're fielding. Still things, other little areas to work on maybe with the bowling and with the batting as well but, you know, can't complain and I'm very, very proud of the boys in the change room.

[Reporter:]

You've been very good at judging the wickets and making changes to the bowling combination accordingly. You played four spinners versus Pakistan, then Noor didn't play the last game, then he replaced Naveen who's been doing well in this game. So how have you been so good at making those combinations and are the players okay with being dropped or being selected based on the conditions and not on performances?

[Jonathan Trott:]

Well, to answer your first question, you're lucky to have the quality of players to choose from. A lot of teams, you don't have the option of playing four spinners, or the quality of the four spinners. The way Noor came in, I thought he bowled brilliantly today as well, I should say. But he then didn't play in Pune, it didn't look like it was going to spin, and he was brilliant with it. And I think as a player as well, it's good to be able to learn from those disappointments, but then gets the opportunity today. But his mindset was so good that he got the opportunity. He didn't sulk in Pune. Naveen being left out today wasn't sulking. His home ground from the IPL. And it's just how it is. And it's all about what the team needs and what's best for the team and selecting for that. I thought Faisal got left out in Chennai and came back and did brilliantly in Pune.

It's important to dovetail in a in a long tournament like this and it's good to see the guys doing that but you know we get to Mumbai, different conditions, different ground and we'll see we'll pick the best 11 for that match.

[Reporter:]

In the last game you had a very simplistic approach to the run chase on the whiteboard, after particular overs the scores were written. Was there a similar kind of thing today or did you go with the run chase keeping in mind the net run rate?

[Jonathan Trott:]

No there was, you guys just didn't spot it, obviously the TV cameras didn't spot it, I hid it away. So yeah, there was just a bit of a guideline of what we wanted to do, but then as we got closer we said, let's try and get a look off that net run rate a bit because of how it is at the moment, and which we did and, you know, we finished it off reasonably quickly as well.

Very wary about sending messages out to players when they're batting and trying to change their mindsets. It's very difficult. I think to suddenly judge from sitting in the dugout and instructing players how to bat - they can see the scoreboard They're not they know what the game looks like and they know about net run rate so they can play accordingly. So I thought they played well and credit to them.

[Reporter:]

Just tell me about the support that you are getting all over India. And especially many Afghan fans have come here to the hundreds of Afghan people, and many Indians also. Like Mickey Arthur has said something about that. They are not getting support, and that also affect the play. So what is your take about this?

[Jonathan Trott:]

We have support, we have a few IPL players, so there's always interest in those players and support for this. But also - I can't put a finger on why they like the Afghan boys. I think they're fantastic cricketers and probably playing some good cricket. And that's why fans are supporting them and watching them.

I can't really speak for anybody else with that regard, but we're very, very happy and very thankful for the support we got. Chennai we had great support, Delhi we had good support, Pune and now here so you know hopefully it's the same in Mumbai and a fantastic stadium and we certainly look forward to playing there.

[Reporter:]

Does it help or put any extra pressure on the performance of the players?

[Jonathan Trott:]

No, it's always nice to have support. I think the players enjoy it, they're very thankful for it. Whenever someone cheers for them or gives them support or encourages them. So, no I don't think it adds any pressure, I think it takes the pressure off.

[Reporter:]

Now your team is going to take on Australia and South Africa, two of the most hard-hitting batting units of this World Cup. Is there any particular plan in mind to take on them, especially considering their boundary hitting abilities?

[Jonathan Trott:]

I think you've got to definitely prepare and have a look at how the opposition are going to play, but the thing is with us, I certainly feel that if we worry, we just focus on how we play and what makes us the side that we are. We've got to make sure that we don't look at the opposition too much and forget about what we've got to do well. So that'll be it and obviously we'll prepare for Australia, a very good side along with South Africa but right now we're focused on Australia and what we can do to beat them.

[Reporter:]

[inaudible]

[Jonathan Trott:]

Well, before the game we said we definitely know they're going to try and run well between wickets, but also it might present us with opportunities and that's exactly what happened. I thought Rashid's run out showed a lot of class, picking up and throwing after hurting his back. I thought the way that Ikram kept as well, we had the opportunity to run out their captain first ball. And then obviously Nabi and Ibrahim took a good catch. So happy with the fielding in that department. So hopefully that continues for the next two games, at least.

[Reporter:]

The Netherlands pride themselves on their running between the wickets and as you said earlier in our chats, the doubles, the 20 doubles or more than that in a single game. But also, there is this fact that they've been run out nine times in this tournament itself and four of those have come in this game. So, what are your thoughts on that?

[Ryan Cook:]

Yeah, we do pride ourselves on running between the wickets and it's something that we actually practice, probably not much like other teams, but we do put a lot of time and effort into it. And obviously our turning technique and our running between the wickets in terms of the speed and stuff, we do a lot of training on that. So that's something that our game is built on and we do pride ourselves on that.

Obviously today as you can see four runouts and you know not just any run outs that are two, three, four and five in your batting order getting run out not ideal and probably some decision-making inside of that as well.

So yeah, we'll have to go back and have a look at that but it won't stop us, it's part of our DNA of our team and we'll keep trying to run between the wickets and value every run like we do.

[Reporter:]

To add to that, of course the dimensions here at the Ekana Stadium aren't, I mean compared to the other stadiums in India, these are certainly bigger dimensions but the numbers today say Netherlands had seven doubles and Afghanistan actually managed eight.

[Ryan Cook:]

Yeah, well I think in a situation like that it's probably the mentality of the batsmen as well, they're not looking to try and hit the balls in the gap, they're just trying to get better on ball and sort of take the innings a little bit deeper. There was only two games ago against Sri Lanka on this very venue where we got 27 twos. So, you know, it is something that we're going to continue to do and it's a reason why we've been successful to this point. Obviously, we don't like to be outrun by any team and they certainly did make a conscious effort to try to shut down the twos by standing well off the boundaries, which obviously we try to do as well in the field. So, credit to them for the fielding as well. They were some really good pieces of fielding throughout the day.

[Reporter:]

What were your targets for Netherlands in this World Cup? And do you think that you have picked most of them? And what are you looking for in the remaining matches?

[Ryan Cook:]

Yeah, I think it's been pretty blatant. We've come out and said we wanted to make the semifinals. I think all the teams would have wanted to do that at the start of the tournament and I certainly would want to play for a coach and a captain that sort of wants that from the team and believes in the team that they can achieve that.

We've still got two games to go, and we can get ourselves up to four wins. And that's sort of what we'll be talking about in the change room from now on. Semifinals obviously look very distant from here. But I think at the end of the day, we keep striving to be a better team day by day. And we'll obviously be putting in big performances in the next couple of days.

[Reporter:]

Your top order failures, you must have been asked a lot about that. Even today you made a change but that didn't work out. So where does the team go from here?

[Ryan Cook:]

Yeah, as you say, I mean the top order has struggled and we needed to address that problem. We did so with a sort of change in the top order and we were going along really nicely, they actually had 73 for one at one stage so really happy with how the power play went.

This game needs a lot more than just a good power play in order to win it and you know they fought their way back into the game and sort of we gave away a couple of run outs and you know we do pride ourselves on being a team that's tough to beat, but we beat ourselves a little bit with the running between the wickets today and put ourselves a bit behind the game and struggled to catch up after that in the middle overs.

We'll look again at the top order and see what's best in that space and we'll be looking at the combinations for next game.

[Reporter:]

Now on the bowling front, where do you think Afghanistan ran away with the game? They finished it pretty early. So where do you think the chase, you guys had them at 55 for two, but then it went away very quickly.

[Ryan Cook:]

I think like you're seeing in the tournament throughout, if you don't get a good enough score there's not enough scoreboard pressure to hold the game for long enough and batsmen can afford to get themselves in, extend the partnership and with that it makes it more difficult to get them out.

The guys fought hard there, like you said knocking over two wickets early on but then extending a partnership and credit to the way that they played, extremely low risk, hit the balls into gaps and spaces and ran really well between the wickets. So, that was a, you know, fantastic pieces of batting from them to be able to drag that game into that position I think Scott Edwards did try as much as he could to try and keep attacking and try and win the game which I think were you know sort of played into the hands of the scoreboard ticking along as well, but yeah, the batters batted well and put a good partnership together there to see them to the end.

[Reporter:]

Now two matches have left, now you guys are now champions trophy spot or not?

[Ryan Cook:]

Yeah, we obviously found out about the champions trophy Qualifications just the other day we were aiming for you know just obviously in this tournament we weren't playing for what was going to go further. We'll obviously have to look at how that looks now, going into the game against England and India, and that'll be certainly something on the guys' minds in terms of something to play for. But the guys are a very proud team. We're all proud of what we've done here, and we'll obviously be keep pushing for wins, and we owe it to the tournament to continue to do so. So, we'll keep pushing on in the next two games.

[Reporter:]

Do you think that the four-win target was unreal now? When you guys have started, a minimum four wins in the tournament?

[Ryan Cook:]

No, I don't think so. We were ambitious in that space to be able to try and win four games. And I think if you have a look at it, we put ourselves in positions to be able to win at least three games so far. And who knows what happens in the next two.

So, yeah, it was an ambitious target to be able to go for. And we'll obviously keep striving towards trying to get those four wins. That's not over and done by any stretch of the imagination yet.

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