Travis Head and Rachin Ravindra post-match press conference, Australia vs New Zealand, ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023

Australia player Travis Head and New Zealand player Rachin Ravindra post-match press conference, Australia vs New Zealand, ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.

Australia player Travis Head 

New Zealand player Rachin Ravindra

Australia player Travis Head post-match press conference transcript

[Reporter:] Just firstly, to be part of that game, the highest ever scoring World Cup match and all that, what was it like in the last 5-10 minutes of it?

 

[Travis Head:] Yeah, I felt pretty confident still, but what a fixture. Nice to be involved in it. Very high scoring. Yeah, had a little sniff at the end there, but yeah, we held our nerve really, really well in a high-pressure situation, so it was nice.

 

[Reporter:] And just about your innings in that partnership, that's how you guys have been batting for a while, but just to sustain it over 14 - 15 hours. Did it just come off? Was it a game plan?

 

[Travis Head:] We've been pretty aggressive I think in the partnership with David and I and yeah, I think you still got to give yourself the best chance. It was nice to get two or three hits in a row myself to sort of get me away. And yeah, I felt like I've said it for a few months. I think Davey's the same. If the runs are going to be presented, we're going to try and take them. We're going to try and be positive and get nice to come off, nice to set a platform and get 390. I think we take that every day. So, yeah, awesome start.

 

[Reporter:] Since you started opening last year, you've been going really hard in the first ten. As long as you can go hard, you and David are both going hard. Can you just talk a little about the strategy of going after the new ball and the change that you've had to make from middle order to the top of the order?

 

[Travis Head:] Yeah, it's a beautiful place to bat at the top of the order, two blokes out. Yeah, I think we sum it up really, really well. There are times where we can't go as aggressive, there's obviously been periods that we have. So, here with two out you want to be as positive as we can be if the wicket allows it and I think over the last sort of 12 months the wickets have allowed it, they've been pretty good, especially here, especially that wicket.

So, yeah, we've got knock-on setting out to do it every time. We understand that there's different times and different tempos you need to, and I think we did that still throughout the 20 odd overs that we batted together. So, yeah, hopefully it continues. We understand that it's not going to be like that every day, but if we can be as a positive as that I think it gets us both in better positions talking about Davey and myself in our technique so yeah nice start.

 

[Reporter:] I'm guessing it didn't take much convincing to get you to open?

 

[Travis Head:] No, definitely not. I think that's been a spot that I guess waited for, obviously, with Finch playing for such a long period and their partnership being so good and the limited chance I had I was able to take and sort of waited a couple of years for that spot to open up. So, that's never guaranteed and I've got to perform and I'm lucky enough to be able to, yeah, put a string of a few performances together that hopefully make that a spot where Dave and I have obviously got a great partnership, but the next guy, whether that be Mitch or whoever, So, yeah.

 

[Reporter:] Back to the end of the game for a moment. In a position like that in the field, are you praying for the ball to come to you or are you praying for it not to come to you?

 

[Travis Head:] Well, as you can probably tell, I've been given a bit of a chance to sort of give myself the best chance to give myself a chance to see the ball. Obviously, we're coming back from the hands. So yeah, I didn't expect it coming to me at all, really. So, I'm prepared for it. But we went in to be underdone, and we're going to probably, there was going to be risk associated with playing last game because didn't know how it was going to react in the field and then we'll get to a stage where we've got to pull the trigger at some point so why not it be tonight and so nice to get back with the boys but yeah we probably just missed a couple of extra days that we could have done with before Netherlands but we knew that going into it probably 50-50 last game 75% this game and 100% for England. And that was six weeks ago so we got we got there in the end and yeah nice - did the right things and was able to get back.

 

[Reporter:] Were you nervous or were you conscious of it when you're facing really quick bowlers, I suppose there's nothing like facing it in a match situation?

 

[Travis Head:] Oh, there was obviously that part of the mindset I guess leading into the game on there's been little aches and pains throughout funnily enough once we got the toss come and were batting the adrenaline pumped up and it felt pretty good.

Like I said batting hasn't been an issue for the last couple of weeks. It's about how I move in the field and how it reacts and now how it pulls up. So, no, we're in a good space.

 

[Reporter:] The ball sent to Marnus there at the end. Can you just kind of talk us through what you kind of observed from him? I know you're a long way away from him so you're probably not gauging his reaction, but you know the drop catch or the catch that he missed on the boundary and then maybe even one he might have thrown to the wrong end at a certain time and then kind of coming back there at the end.

 

[Travis Head:] Yeah, I know his mindset I was obviously close with him moving between the field on that side of the ground. So, I think you've seen how good of a fielder he is. I think he's got full confidence in making plays and to knock one back and then to make the run out to huge ones. He doesn't make many mistakes. So, a rare one with the boundary. But he always wants to be in the game throughout the whole 50 overs. He's trying to move himself around to be in the fixture. So that's what we come to expect Manus and no surprise that he makes a couple of plays tonight.

 

[Reporter:] And how about just getting a really close win? Like all your games so far, you've either lost by a lot or won by a fair bit. Is it almost good in a way to get run really close?

 

[Travis Head:] Yeah, well very important to get over the line. We're not really sure, I'm not sure what the standings are at the minute and where it looks, but yeah rather be on the winning side the losing side especially I guess with dropping a couple games at start we needed to sort of make sure every post is a winner. To get over in close ones is very, very important in this stage of tournament - so nice we're able to do that and hold our chances in the end and make a couple plays and be really calm. So very happy.

 

[Reporter:] Seems like a day for left-handers, yourself, David, Rachin, Neesham.

 

But coming to your bowling, was there any discussion in the middle out there saying - give me the ball with the captain when people were traveling a bit.

 

[Travis Head:] I was always open to it. There's always discussions around it. But I felt like the way he moved around try to get blokes back in the game. And yeah, I felt he moved the bowlers around really, really well. There's obviously so many different combinations that you could use, and I think that's what makes our line-up at the moment strong with our all-rounders and plenty of options. But I thought the way Pat did it today, the composure at the end and the way he used his guys was exceptional, and we ended up getting over the line. So, it was good.

 

[Reporter:] Just coming into the World Cup, the leadership practically made a decision saying we'll choose from 14 for half of the tournament because we want Trav there. It's a great vote of confidence but does it also bring any pressure during the recovery and B, when you finally come back?

 

[Travis Head:] No, I didn't feel any pressure and I think that's, I guess, it just sums up with the way the decision was made for the Netherlands game. Obviously, everyone's very keen. I'm on the ground. I feel like I was going well. Everyone's pretty keen and the decision making and the expectations were there. So, if I wasn't right, I wasn't playing and we're going to - as a stage, but definitely at home it was nice to be kept in the squad. I understood a lot of things had to go right, personally and with the team. So, I didn't really feel the pressure today. I just wanted to come out and play and contribute. So, whether that be tonight, whether that be against England or in the last two games.

At some stage, you want to step up. It's nice to do it straight away. And then hopefully I can roll onto that into the next three and then hopefully finals.

 

[Reporter:] It seemed like you were timing the ball right from the start of the earnings today. And obviously, I'm sure the free hits helped. But did you almost surprise yourself with how crisply it was working right from the start?

 

[Travis Head:] Yeah, after a while. I batted over the last little week, probably a little bit. The free hits definitely helped - just in a mindset way around movement and obviously taking that next step. So, after a couple of only a couple hits in the nets at full tilt and the training wickets are a lot different than the in the middle so no there's always a mindset there, but yeah nice to get a feel out the middle at the start and then I just loved getting into the contest today and felt like that was going to always happen.

In terms of the hand like once I got into the game and everything, it would go to the back of my mind. But yeah, nice to spend some time out there at the start of the tournament

New Zealand player Rachin Ravindra post-match press conference transcript

[Reporter:] Can you talk to us about your emotions and emotions in that dressing room at the moment?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] Yeah, obviously it's disappointing when it gets that close and you're chasing such a big total and to come out a little bit short but I think that's the beauty of cricket like you get the highs and lows of it and it was an exciting game, entertained the fans so look we'll move on and review but got to understand there's still a lot of cricket to be played in this World Cup.

 

[Reporter:] Twice in one week you've come very close to kind of getting over the line. Would you, what would you put that down to for that one final step how do you how would you say what needs to happen?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] I don't think there's a certain step I think the whole thing about 50-over cricket it's over a long period of time and you build those sort of partnerships and you build sort of that pressure with the ball over a period of time so I think that there are probably moments in the game that you might look and be like, oh, we wish it went the other way. But I think that's the beauty of this game. Like you can't really go back and flip a switch. Like here you can hopefully get execution better or whether it's plans or something. But as long as our processes are there, then whatever will happen will happen.

 

[Reporter:] Can you talk to us about your innings specifically and what were the discussions with a couple of the partnerships that you had?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] Yeah, I think being able to bat with guys who have so much experience helps a lot. I think obviously being able to bat with Darrell, having a little partnership with him and the way he went about his business obviously took a little bit of the attack to them so it meant I could sort of feed him or sort of feed off him and then once he got out it was just the comms were just reacting to the ball and seeing what was in front of me and lucky enough it was a good wicket to bat on so I could sort of just go out there and play my game.

 

[Reporter:] Last one, does Jimmy Nisham still recommend kids to take up cricket or is he asking them to turn to baking and lawn mowing after this?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] We'll see at the end of the World Cup.

 

[Reporter:] I just wanted to say you've made some great runs across a lot of different teams and some of the best bowlers in the world. I just wanted to see what you thought of Australia's attack compared to some of the others you faced in this tournament?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] Well, obviously, Aussie are one of the best attacks in the world. They've sort of proved it over a long period of time. I guess Cummins, Stark, Hazelwood, Zampa, all those, Maxwell, all those boys have played a lot of cricket in terms of franchise and sort of ODI test cricket. So, I mean, they're very, very good bowlers. I wouldn't sort of take anything away from them. They're obviously very, very good.

 

[Reporter:] Well, about today, you've now got centuries against England and Australia. Have you almost exceeded your own expectations of what you thought you could achieve at this World Cup already?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] Yeah, I guess you probably look at it at the start and be obviously very grateful to be here and how things have worked out but I think you keep on I guess the expectations, expectations like whatever like yeah you want to do well and stuff and you take it as it comes and obviously, we're in a position to as a team to hopefully push on and keep winning games and I guess individually it runs for the team so I'm happy to be able to contribute.

 

[Reporter:] So just on the crowd's reaction, I mean, they were chanting your name when you played those few great shots in the middle. And then towards the end, it was Jimmy. How good was it to get that sort of a reaction at a neutral venue?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] Yeah, I think this was probably one of the best crowds we've played in India and having that sort of fanfare and the response, like how they responded to the game was pretty special, I think. As a kid you always dream of the crowd chanting your name and it was cool to see them do that on multiple occasions even when Aussie were batting and when Nish did his thing at the end. So, I think it's always special, you sort of soak in those moments and hopefully we never really take them for granted.

 

[Reporter:] First of all, being Indian roots, what was the pressure level for you in performing in India, especially?

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] Oh, well, I think, I've been asked this question a lot, but I guess I'm 100% Kiwi and I'm very proud of my Indian heritage. But I guess it's proud to be able to do it in the country where my parents were born and where they grew up and where a lot of my family is. But I think, obviously the conditions, it's good for batting and being able to come to India previously on tours and trying to not perfect my game but I try get better. I guess that that helps in a way.

 

[Reporter:] How did the conditions change through the day? I mean from the outside it seemed it slowed down quite a bit after the new ball.

 

[Rachin Ravindra:] I wouldn't say it slowed down too much. I think yeah, the off-cutters were definitely gripping and the slow balls were gripping a bit but I think that's just the nature of a surface when you've had sort of 50 – 60 - 70 overs on it. I think overall it was a very, very good service for batting. I think it showed obviously in the scores that we made. But I think there was enough pace, enough carry, and there was enough bounce in it for us to have a good go at it at 390..

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