Captain Pat Cummins on Australia's form ahead of South Africa world cup semi final
Captain Pat Cummins on Australia's form ahead of South Africa world cup semi final
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00:00 Good morning, Pat. Welcome to Eden Gardens. It is one of the luckiest grounds you are
00:28 playing here. Your Aaron Border won here. So that team had consistency in the opening
00:35 pairs. Jeff Marsh and that David Boone, they were more consistent. But in your this team,
00:42 the consistency is lacking. Warner has played, I think, all the, as an opener he played,
00:49 but you have permutated and there is a permutation combination in terms of opening pair. What
00:56 would you say about this pair, opening pair, which is very important for a 50-over match?
01:01 Yeah, I mean, I think we got a great opening pair in Trav and Davey. Trav obviously missed
01:09 the first half of the tournament due to injury, but in that New Zealand match, you saw the
01:14 way they took the game away from him in basically the first 10 overs. That's how we want to
01:18 play. Mitch Marsh, I think, showed last time as well what he can do at the top of the order,
01:24 4-beat at number 3. So, yeah, really, really pumped with how the batting line-up is functioning
01:28 at the moment.
01:29 Hi, I write for the Midday, Arup Chatterjee. Tell me, like, you know, how important is
01:40 South Africa beating you in the league stage, but they have a very poor record against you
01:44 in the semi-finals. So how does all these things count? And it's a slow wicket, it's
01:49 a different kind of wicket, so pace, putting, sight, how do you, how are you going to tackle
01:54 all that?
01:55 Yeah, it's, I don't think it counts for too much. You know, it's obviously, you start
02:02 from scratch every time you play. They're a team we've played quite a lot and know quite
02:05 well. But as you said, you know, this wicket's probably going to be quite different to, say,
02:11 the South African series that we just played against them a couple of months ago. So I
02:14 think, you know, what helps us is we've got a lot of guys that have been in this situation
02:18 before that have won one day World Cup, T20 World Cup, various other tournaments in big
02:24 moments. So I think that really helps. You can draw on that in the middle of the contest.
02:29 Yeah, in terms of the wicket, it does look like it's probably going to spin a bit more
02:32 than some of the other wickets, which again, it's the same for both teams. So yeah, it
02:39 might just be a slightly different pace game, but I think it's still pretty evenly matched.
02:44 Pat, South Africa have had some great sides and never played in a World Cup final. So
02:50 how do you think that sort of legacy or history will weigh on them in a big game like this?
02:56 Yeah, hard to say. You know, it's again, we feel lucky that we've been in these situations
03:04 quite a bit, a lot of our players. So it's, you know what it takes, but also you're not
03:11 really weighed down by history. You get more excited about the challenge and, you know,
03:16 just get stuck into what needs to be done. So yeah, hard to speak on their behalf, but
03:21 yeah, I do know kind of each World Cup, it does seem to be the story that South Africa
03:26 haven't quite achieved, obviously what they set out to do.
03:30 Pat, seven of the bounts, given the way you started the World Cup, does that put you,
03:37 even though it's a fresh start, knockout etc, does that give you the momentum against a
03:43 team which played here and lost pretty badly?
03:48 Yeah, it's hard to say. I think, you know, we've come a long way since the start of the
03:52 tournament. You know, first two games were two tough teams to come up against. India
03:57 and South Africa played really well that day as well. But I think we've, well I know we've
04:01 got better as a team since then. You know, I think we're a bit more aggressive with our
04:08 batting, we're taking the game on a bit more. You know, we've posted 400 a few times, that's
04:15 a scary proposition. And then with the bowling I think we've, yeah, just got better and better
04:21 in all phases. So yeah, it feels like we're really well placed. We've obviously played
04:26 a lot of cricket over the last month and it just feels like, you know, everyone knows
04:31 their role and it's starting to click.
04:33 Yeah, Pat, just going back to the mental side of things, I just wondered if you could elaborate
04:41 a little bit more. I mean, a lot of players in your side of T20 have been T20 World Cup
04:47 champions, some from that 2015 campaign as well. You know, how does that affect the way
04:54 that you approach a big game like this? Is there an ease? Have you talked about what
05:00 you've done in the past and what you need to do this time? Could you just talk a little
05:06 bit more about that?
05:07 Yeah, I think there's a couple of different ways you can go about it. You can either build
05:11 it up as the most important game of your life or you can business as usual really. And I
05:17 think with experience, I think just keeping it pretty chilled and business as usual for
05:24 our group seems to be the way to go. So, you know, you draw back on those past wins but
05:30 you also just draw back on the last few weeks and know that us at our best is good enough.
05:35 So you don't need to try and push it too hard. But I think there's a quiet confidence and
05:42 I think our team plays our best when we've got that.
05:45 In the past, especially on the previous questions, I mean the first 48 knock on, what kind of
05:52 match were you able to catch? Was there anything different for you?
05:57 No, you know, again, we've played nine matches in the last kind of six weeks so lots of lessons
06:05 along the way there. And yeah, I'll be drawing on that. So there's been some games that were
06:12 pretty chilled. There's been some that have kind of been pretty tight at the end and I
06:16 think that sets us up well for this one. And yeah, I do my normal planning, get my head
06:22 around what tomorrow's going to look like on say that kind of wicket, which maybe spin,
06:28 might spin. But yeah, I don't think you'll see anything too different.
06:38 Pat, how much have you guys been looking at the forecast and suggestions of a cyclone
06:43 or whatever might be coming? And just in terms of that, like if there was some rain and you
06:49 went into that reserve day, like it would give you a really tight turnaround between
06:53 the semi and the final. I mean it's already a tight turnaround, right? Like have you thought
06:57 about all those things?
06:58 Yeah, I had a bit of a look at the weather. It's always kind of hard to judge. It seems
07:03 to change a little bit and one website tells you something and another one tells you the
07:07 opposite. So yeah, I guess it's something to think about, but I mean you can't forward
07:16 plan too much with the weather. So yeah, we'll turn up, expect to play 50 over the match
07:21 tomorrow. Any of that shifts on us, well, I'm sure in real time we can kind of adjust
07:27 as needed. But yeah, it feels like it hasn't really rained here for the last couple of
07:33 days, so to see the weather for two days looking like that's not ideal. But yeah, in terms
07:39 of short turnaround, you know, it's fine. We've played lots of ODIs where you're playing
07:45 on Friday, flying to a different city, playing on the Sunday. So it's not too big of a deal.
07:49 Pat, just going back to the history between the two teams, like how many times have you
07:57 seen that Australia-South Africa semi-final on television over here? It's on all the time.
08:02 It's also funny that they don't show the 2007 one where Australia dominated South Africa
08:06 and beaten badly. So I know you're not much of a cricket watcher, but do you have any
08:10 memories from that? And like I said, how often have you had to see it in the last few years?
08:14 I mean, yeah, the '99 World Cup one, it's kind of folklore, isn't it? So I've seen that
08:21 replay heaps of times, you hear the stories. Yeah, mainly just that last ball and last
08:26 over, I've seen that heaps of times. But yeah, I guess since I've been playing, I haven't
08:33 really seen too much. Obviously, 2015, they had a great semi-final against New Zealand,
08:38 went right down to the wire. But yeah, honest answer, I don't have too many memories.
08:43 Hi Pat, just on that, do many of your team members remember anything about '99? You know,
08:52 some of the South Africans weren't even born then and they say this is not something that's
08:56 in our memory bank. Is it in yours?
08:59 I mean, no, not really. None of our players were playing. So yeah, you can't probably
09:06 draw too many conclusions from that team, but it's part of Australian cricket folklore
09:12 and history. So you see the replays, but yeah, obviously none of us were playing in the game.
09:19 Hi Pat, Sandeep here. You have been a part of Kolkata Knight Riders and Eden Gardens
09:25 is very familiar to you. So is it going to give you any extra advantage while preparing
09:31 strategy for this match? You know the conditions here very well.
09:36 I've been asked that by a few of the boys this week and I feel like I've hardly played
09:41 here. I think I've played one IPL game here and then obviously the last few years we've
09:45 been in Dubai or Mumbai or different places for IPL. So yeah, I'd love to claim that,
09:51 but yeah, I've played here as much as a lot of the other guys, which is mainly Australian
09:56 ODIs and yeah, the odd IPL game.
09:59 Hi Pat, just on a personal note, you were in that 2015 World Cup squad, but you weren't
10:06 in the XI. So is there any extra motivation to claim that XI, considering how many of
10:11 your close mates were in that team?
10:13 Absolutely. I still say that 2015 World Cup was my career highlight and I wasn't playing,
10:19 but it was just the most magic moment. MCG, Packed House, whole of Australia behind us
10:25 winning a World Cup, which is rare. You only get a chance every four years. So yeah, if
10:31 I'm in the XI, we win, that might be that 2015 World Cup.
10:38 Pat, have you settled on an XI yet and if not, are you leaning one way towards the extra
10:43 all-rounder or batter?
10:45 Yeah, we'll announce that at the toss tomorrow. So we're pretty sure, but yeah, we'll let
10:51 everyone know tomorrow.
10:52 And just, I'm not sure if you followed a report from the Daily Mail over the last 24 hours
10:58 about the pitch in Mumbai. Do you have any concerns about the integrity of the pitches
11:03 at this tournament and potential Indian control relative to the ICC?
11:08 Yeah, I saw that. Obviously, ICC have an independent pitch curator who manages that, so I'm sure
11:17 they're all over making sure it's fair for both teams. So yeah, so far this tournament
11:25 that we've played on, I haven't seen any issues.
11:29 Pat, just back to the playing XI. So Manas walking around with keeping gloves on, you
11:35 don't need to read too much into that, right? He won't be keeping wickets in the 75, for
11:38 example?
11:39 He won't be keeping wickets. We've got two very accomplished wicket keepers here on tour.
11:44 No, I did say to him after training yesterday, because I saw him bowl off-spin, leg-spin,
11:50 short-fielding catching, out-field catching, batting, hitting fielding hits and then batting
11:56 in the nets against spin pace. I was like, "You forgot to do fast bowling today. What's
12:01 happened?" So he'll probably be down here later fast bowling.
12:05 Pat, can you talk us through about the two likely scenarios with selection? Like you
12:12 just said before, the pitch might turn a bit, so it might be a bit harder work. Is that
12:16 a case where you might lean towards the extra batter rather than the extra all-rounder?
12:20 I mean, what are the two scenarios that you guys are working through to make that decision
12:24 on that final play?
12:26 Yeah, I think that's fair. With the all-rounders, someone like a, say, a Stoyan at number seven
12:34 is giving you valuable overs and then also is a really aggressive finisher to the innings.
12:40 So you're weighing that up against maybe a middle-order batter if you think the bowling
12:45 might not come into it as much. Maybe the runs are to be had through the middle overs
12:55 rather than blasting out at the end. So they're things we've got to weigh up. I don't think
12:58 there's a wrong or right answer. We've got a class squad of people here that feel like
13:05 we can step in at any time. So yeah, we'll work through that.
13:09 And Maxi, we just had the news that Maxi had a precautionary scan. Can you tell us what
13:13 that was for and how he's pulled on?
13:16 Yeah, so Maxi's all clear. He's all good. Yeah, just precautionary. So he was still
13:21 a little bit sore yesterday. And yeah, we get scans a lot of the time just to make sure
13:27 that if there is something there, we know what we're dealing with. And fortunately,
13:31 it came back all sweet, so he's fine.
13:34 [INAUDIBLE]
13:44 Can I just go?
13:45 Yeah, yeah, just go ahead.
13:46 [INAUDIBLE]
14:11 I mean, anything that favours the bowlers I'm normally in agreeance with. I mean, again,
14:18 it's the same for both teams. I think in some ways over here in India, the ball actually
14:22 deteriorates OK. So sometimes at the end of the innings, the scoring isn't as free-flowing,
14:28 say, in Australia or some of these other countries. But there's no doubt, yeah, the ODI cricket
14:36 nowadays is a million miles away from the ODI cricket from 20 years ago, where they
14:41 used to use one ball and used to reverse for any player.
14:45 [INAUDIBLE]
14:59 Sorry, what was that? More inspired?
15:01 [INAUDIBLE]
15:09 Yeah, for sure. I think any moment like that. You know, same with Mitch Marshall's 170-odd
15:15 last game. I think in particular, Maxwell's knock when we were right up against it, game
15:21 was over, but still one of the boys stood up to find a way to win. You know, that just
15:28 as a team, you grow an extra leg because you feel like you can win a match from anywhere.
15:33 Having someone like Max in your team is just a complete luxury. Like, he's a superstar,
15:39 he's a freak, he can win a game from anywhere. Yeah, pretty glazed in our team.
15:44 [INAUDIBLE]
16:00 I mean, yeah, it'd be pretty awesome. Again, you look back at some of the great Aussie
16:07 sides and see that they've won World Cups. Probably more from a playing point of view,
16:11 kind of, yeah, that's what drives you to win World Cups. Yeah, to be captain of this side
16:18 if we won, I just feel like a huge privilege. Yeah, I've loved it. It's a great bunch of
16:22 lads and, yeah, it'd be pretty cool.
16:26 [INAUDIBLE]
16:31 I think you already have.
16:33 Thanks, guys. Thanks, everyone.
16:36 Thanks.
16:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]