Probably not at this stage. I think we’ll sit down and have a chat about it as a selection group. Got some guys that are still finishing up training now, but yeah, looks like a pretty similar wicket to what we expected it to be.
They’re a very dangerous side. It’s important that you start really well, whether you bat or bowl first in the first 10-over periods are going to be really crucial, because we how damaging West Indies can be during that period. But also, equally, if we get off to a good start, then we can start to try and to get into our work a bit.
It’s probably a little bit drier than I expected. I can’t imagine they would have put a huge amount of water into it over the last couple of days with there being so much weather around. No, I’m not surprised how it looks, but I think you have to understand that in conditions like this you’re going to go for boundaries, so the key to bowling I think is to make sure that they’re hitting your best ball.
We know how fast the outfields are here. We know how flat wickets can be at times, so you have to be prepared to suck up some pressure and soak up a few boundaries here and there, as long as we're getting hitting in our areas and we often talk about now good execution versus poor execution, and that’s all it is.
We have prepared for it. It’s something, we played them in a warm-up game down at Southampton on the Nursery Ground there, and they bowled very similar. Also had a lot of success with it last game and got off to a really good start, so I expect that they will come with a similar-type plan. But the follow-up from bouncers in short bowling is the key. I think if you just stick to one plan, then teams get on top of you pretty quickly or they adjust quick enough.
We’ve had a few days off. They have been recovering nicely. We expect both of them to be fit and ready to go today.
It’s always been a great rivalry between West Indies and Australia. I think everybody is expecting a really good contest. We’re up for the challenge. I think they’re up for the challenge, as well. I wouldn’t really get too deep into rivalries, but we expect a really good contest from the Australians.
We’re just taking it game by game. Today, is our country versus Australia. We’ve got a hurdle to overcome. I think when we overcome that hurdle, then we’ll move deeper into the tournament. But I just don’t want to single out teams particularly. I think all teams are evenly matched and well-balanced, so it’s just a matter of playing good cricket on any given day. That’s our rule. We want to execute in all three departments.
I don’t think so. As I said, it’s a wide-open tournament. All 10 teams are capable of lifting the World Cup. That’s why we’re here, they’re the 10 best teams in the world. So I wouldn’t get into the games that have been played. I just want to keep moving forward. We’ve played Pakistan already and that’s a hurdle that we’ve overcome. We've got Australia today, and that’s our next hurdle, and that's what I want to focus on.
When we bat we just want to execute our batting plans. We’ve all seen the way the world cricket has gone the last couple months — well, last two years per se. And there have been some high totals and there have been some aggressive stroke play. We just want to be as positive as we possibly can be. Whether we bat first or if we chase, we’ve got to show intent. Intent is something that we spoke about in the dressing room, and it’s something that we want to go about our goal with when we go into our innings.
We obviously had one game here before. We bowled 22 overs. We didn’t get a full allotment. But having said that, we’ve got a bit of knowledge about the ground, how the wicket plays. But having said that, there are quite a few strips on this square. I’m not sure which one we’re on today.
— Courtesy © ICC Business CorporationFZ LLC 2018