Scott Edwards & Taskin Ahmed speak ahead of Netherlands v Bangladesh

Scott Edwards & Taskin Ahmed speak ahead of Netherlands v Bangladesh in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

[Reporter:]

Some teams have also not had a good outing in the World Cup so far. So, is there a chance that in your thinking, this is one of the games that the Netherlands are targeting to win?

[Scott Edwards:]

I think we're targeting to win every game. Yeah, obviously had similar campaigns so far – it’s the last four games of the tournament now before the next stage. So, yeah, obviously a big game, as big as any game we come up for. So, yeah, looking forward to it.

[Reporter:]

What are the areas you think that has come up in the World Cup where you have looked for improvement? Or what are the areas in the Netherlands team that you think the players have surprised you or done well in the World Cup?

[Scott Edwards:]

Yeah, I'm not sure anyone's surprised. I think we know what these guys are capable of. Obviously, we've had disappointing games with the bat, so definitely something we'll be looking to rectify moving forward into the campaign.

[Reporter:]

It is one thing to play India at home, the atmosphere is completely different, but pretty much for every other team it's a neutral game except when you're playing Bangladesh at Eden Gardens - is that something that's playing on your mind?

[Scott Edwards:]

Not really, I think a lot of the boys are actually really looking forward to it I mean you know we love playing in front of a big crowd and hopefully tomorrow there are supporters, whether they're from India or Bangladesh or wherever they come from. We're just looking forward to putting on a good performance and looking forward to the atmosphere that should be there.

[Reporter:]

Is this a sort of culmination of a build-up, things you've done right and the build up to the tournament because apart from the previous match you've been consistently competitive, or is it all things coming together suddenly. How would you describe this spell?

[Scott Edwards:]

Yeah, I think a lot of it goes back to the start of the Super League for us. Before the Super League, we only played one-off games and the odd World Cup every few years. So, for us to have the ability to play multiple series against Full Member nations was huge for us. We had a lot of learnings through that. And yeah, it sort of all started coming together towards the end of the Super League and then into the World Cup in Australia. Yeah, and I think we took that momentum into the Qualifier. And yeah, I think we've played a lot of good cricket so far in this tournament. But we just have to be better than what we have been to make sure we keep winning games here.

[Reporter:]

After you defeated one of the tournament favourites, South Africa, how do you cope with the rising expectations of the Netherlands team?

[Scott Edwards:]

Well, yeah, we came in with big expectations, so I don't know if that rose any further. When we beat South Africa, our goal was always to come and win four of our first eight games and push for a semi-final spot. We had big expectations coming through and obviously winning against South Africa was one step forward and we probably just haven't hit the mark fully in a lot of the other games we've played.

[Reporter:]

12 years ago, Netherlands played their last match in Eden Gardens and that time scored a century. Unfortunately, Netherlands didn't win the match. Would you like to change the history from 12 years ago?

[Scott Edwards:]

If changing the history meant getting another 100, then I think our boys will be looking forward to going out there and getting another 100 I suppose. I don't think we've spoken too much about previous tournaments, we're all here, it's a different group of guys with different expectations and different goals for this tournament.

[Reporter:]

You have been opening your bowling with an off spinner but here the conditions will be different. It's a pace friendly wicket. So, will you continue your strategy or will you just change it opening with a fast bowler?

[Scott Edwards:]

That's a good question. I don't know if we'll be giving too much away. We've obviously got to have a look at the wicket, go through the Bangladesh batters and see how we want to match up against them. Yes, I don't know if we'll be letting too many secrets out.

[Reporter:]

What is the biggest takeaway that the Netherlands is looking for from this tournament and what's next after the tournament?

[Scott Edwards:]

Yeah, I think that'll come down to a little bit of what the ICC fixturing looks like. Yeah, I suppose for us, we haven't looked too far into the future. I think we're pretty much playing in the present of this tournament and making sure we come and achieve what we want to achieve here. And yeah, moving forward, hopefully bigger and better things for us.

[Reporter:]

Just before, Taskin said that Indian pitch conditions is favourable for the batting strength teams. So, what is your take on that?

[Scott Edwards:]

Yeah, I think the great thing about Indian conditions is it does change so much depending on what venues you're at. So as a batting or a bowling unit, you've just got to adjust depending what the pitch is like on the day. So, we'll have a look at the wicket, but a lot of the time it just comes down to in the game making the right decisions and, adjusting to whatever those conditions are.

[Reporter:]

Your coach Ryan Cook obviously was with Bangladesh team for a long time. Do you think his biggest strength as far as the preparation for the matchup with Bangladesh players is their mentality, their skills… How much input is he giving?

[Scott Edwards:]

It's definitely helped for us, especially in terms of that sort of analyst side. He obviously worked for a long time with the Bangladesh team and a lot of these guys individually. So he's sort of spreading what he knows about this squad but there's obviously some new players, players change over years as well so you know we'll take what information we can from him and try to apply that into the game and yeah but first and foremost we just got to make sure we execute our skills.

[Reporter:]

Netherlands lower order has done pretty well throughout the tournament, but the top order hasn't done that well. On the other hand, Bangladesh's bowling attack is conceding plenty of runs as well. Do you think tomorrow's match can be an opportunity for the Netherlands top order to get some runs?

[Scott Edwards:]

Yeah, hopefully that's the plan and I'm sure you know our top order would be very keen to you know start getting into this tournament with a few more runs than we have so far but as you said there is a positive that you know the guys in the middle and the lower order have been making contributions for us. So hopefully once it all clicks, we can start putting on some big totals.

[Reporter:]

Netherlands is known for football but nowadays cricket is growing a lot, so how do you think what you guys done right to grow cricket and what is the process in your country to develop cricket?

[Scott Edwards:]

What has the process been? I think as a group we sort of just speak about controlling what we can control and that's our performances, obviously getting the word out as much as we can in the country. But I think first and foremost your performances are what grows the game in the country. So, we feel like we're on the right track there and the better we play, the more games we win, the more media attention there is in the country and hopefully that goes a long way to growing the sport in the Netherlands.

[Reporter:]

Johan Cruyff and Ryan Ten Doeschate are the household names in India. So how do you see some of, from your team, may become a household name in India and what about the performance of Vikramjit Singh?

[Scott Edwards:]

Yeah, firstly I think, yeah, Johan Cruyff, that's very good from you. We obviously pride ourselves on playing a total cricket brand of how we're playing. So, for us that's with the bat, with the ball and in the field. I feel like we've hit some and a lot of those marks throughout the tournament but still a long way from what we think we're capable of. And yeah, Vikram has obviously been very successful for us over the past 18 months. He probably hasn't scored the amount of runs he would have liked to so far, but we're confident, he's a quality player and will be for many years to come.

[Reporter:]

I wanted to ask you, given what the two, let's say Bangladesh and Bengal share, is there a regret that you don't play enough at Eden Gardens? You played one Test here, and it's only during World Cup that you come here and you haven't played India yet. Is there a regret somewhere that you should be playing India more and should be playing at Eden more?

[Taskin Ahmed:]

Yeah, there are some because we as a player, we always love to play in India because of the crowd and facilities. But I played before in Eden in 2016 in World Cup and hopefully, I'll play tomorrow again. But as a player, I would love to play more. Yeah, definitely.

[Reporter:]

Your USP in your bowling is speed. I mean, you want to hit top speed. But what has been the experience so far in practice and whatever matches you played, on conditions here, do you think it is possible for you to just get wickets on speed or you want to add something more to your repertoire?

[Taskin Ahmed:]

So far, I played in this World Cup and also, I have been watching. It's nothing much for the bowlers. It's kind of batting friendly, all the grounds. But also, there are some challenge and it's not all about speed. Like we have seen there are express fast bowlers in the world, they're also struggling, leaking runs. So, in this kind of conditions, it's not all about speed. You need some variation skills and a game awareness. So, it's not all about speed. You need a lot of skills to do well in this kind of surfaces. Yeah.

[Reporter:]

It must be great to be along with people who can bowl at 145?

[Taskin Ahmed:]

Yeah, good to see. As a fast bowler, when you can bowl fast, it's a different feeling. And you need a lot of passion and hard work. Also, you need some natural talent as well. So, I'm also a fast bowler. When I'm fit and I'm feeling good, and when I'm in good rhythm, when I bowl fast, that gives me different pleasure to me. So, it's good to bowl fast always.

[Reporter:]

Semi-final hope for Bangladesh has already been dashed virtually. So, what is the motivation for the team for the next four matches?

[Taskin Ahmed:]

It's not finished yet. Still four more games to go. If we can win those four, anything can happen because there are some run rates issue and also like a lot of teams like England and Afghanistan beat England they lost against Sri Lanka. So, if we can win four there will be different story maybe but at the moment we are planning to go match by match. Yes, we didn't play well enough as we expected from both units, batting, and bowling, but four games to go. So, we are looking forward to do well as well.

[Reporter:]

The three departments, bowling, fielding, and batting, what do you think, where you went wrong?

[Taskin Ahmed:]

Like I told before, as we expected, our fielding was pretty good so far in this tournament but batting and bowling I think as we expected we haven't done enough well so there are a lot more improvements. But also, we know also that we are better than that. And we are capable. But yeah, we haven't done great. So, hoping to do well in the next four matches.

[Reporter:]

Just before the game against Netherlands, your captain Shakib has left the team for a couple of days and he has been back yesterday already. So how does that affect the team spirit and the thing in the team because the captain was not with the team for the last couple of days. So how does that affect?

[Taskin Ahmed:]

No, actually it's not affected much. I think after when he came back, we had a really good time, all of our teammates. But actually, he went for some improvements, you know, like he was not batted well as he expected. But he went to do some specific practice to do well for our team, like we should more appreciate that, I think. Because he talked with our management, BCB - then he went, and also, we had rest day that day. So, on official practice day, he's here. So, I think we should appreciate it more, and we don't have any problem, and we are not affected with any problems.

[Reporter:]

You have mentioned about the pitch. How do you find the Eden pitch?

[Taskin Ahmed:]

Tomorrow we are going to play the first match in the World Cup here. So, we haven't seen any matches. Most likely it’s going to be a very good wicket, sporting wicket. So normally when I played here before, what I have seen, very good batting track. Outfield is pretty fast. But there will be, I think, for both, bowler, and batsman both going to get some help. So, it's going to be a very good sporting wicket in my thoughts. So, we'll see when we're going to play tomorrow.

© ICC