England's head coach Matthew Mott previews their must-win ICC T20 Cricket World Cup clash with Oman
Sir Viv Richards Stadium, Antigua, West Indies
Sir Viv Richards Stadium, Antigua, West Indies
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00:00You've got plenty to sort of focus on yourselves, but I wonder if you'd seen Josh Hazelwood's
00:05comments about doing whatever they could to make sure you guys don't get through regardless?
00:11To be honest, I was informed of that this morning.
00:14Look, to me, that's things out of our control and I think I know Josh pretty well and I
00:20know his integrity.
00:21I don't think that's a thing.
00:22He has got a very good sense of humour and hopefully that's what he was doing.
00:26You're happy to take that as a joke and focus on your game ahead?
00:29That's all we can do.
00:30I think regardless of any outside noise about qualification, run rates, all that sort of
00:36stuff, essentially we've got to win this game and we've spoken a lot about that.
00:40I know Josh spoke really well yesterday about we need to earn the right to push hard in
00:45this game as well.
00:46I think that's what teams do.
00:47Nice, cool, calculated response.
00:50It's going to be a good wicket out here by the looks of it.
00:52We're going with a lot of confidence.
00:54I think we've played good T20 cricket for a while now.
00:57It didn't quite come off against Australia last game but I think we've got our structure
01:01in place so we're really confident.
01:03Those who saw us train yesterday, you can see a buoyant group up and about that's ready
01:08for the challenge ahead.
01:10Do you think there's, you've been talking about outside noise, maybe an issue with the
01:15structure of a tournament that opens it up that a group can be decided by one team after
01:21the other team's matches are finished?
01:23Could it be a little bit tighter, that organisation, in making sure that things happen at the same
01:27time?
01:28No, it depends on what happens.
01:30If we got through and didn't have a washout game, it would be very different.
01:33But we knew that coming in, we always knew that washout games could play an impact.
01:38But we've still got things in our control and that's all you can ask for.
01:41We've got two more games.
01:43We're treating this game with Oman in isolation.
01:46They've got our full attention.
01:47We're going to prepare really well for that and then see what happens in this game.
01:51If we get into a position where we're in a dominant position and can push hard, we will.
01:55If we have to scrap and fight and get the two points, we will as well.
01:58We'll just keep an open mind, as we always will.
02:01But essentially, we want to play that brand of cricket.
02:03I think we had glimpses of it the other day.
02:05I thought we started well with the bat, but to get a full performance in is really important.
02:12Get that on-field confidence.
02:13I think we're really close, but obviously it's been a bit of a disjointed tournament
02:18so far.
02:19Do you have a full 15 to choose from, everyone tracking well?
02:22Yeah, everyone's tracking well.
02:24I think we've got really good options going forward as well.
02:26So yeah, we'll finish our 11 off today.
02:31We're confident that, as I said, with the structure we've got, there might be some minor
02:35tweaks but other than that, it'll be pretty much what we've put out already.
02:39You haven't gone unchanged the first two.
02:41The four guys who were outside that playing 11, have they been pushing you pretty hard
02:45in terms of giving you a decision to make?
02:47Yeah, absolutely.
02:48I think they've all had a great mindset.
02:51We've said we've come here with a squad mentality.
02:54I think turning up, you guys would probably be better judges, but I don't think you'd
02:57be able to tell who was in the 11 by the way they've trained.
02:59I think that's a sign of a good squad and I've enjoyed what they've brought so far.
03:04Hopefully, there's still a lot of cricket left and I think that's the important thing
03:07is the challenge ahead of us is something we're excited by.
03:11We're not daunted by it, we're excited by it and that's genuine.
03:19Whether he was joking or not, do you think given what's happened in Australian cricket
03:23since Sam Papergate and Lords last summer, it was a pretty stupid thing to say?
03:28No, that's not for me to comment.
03:30I haven't actually heard the comment, I was just informed beforehand.
03:33I don't know the context it was set in, so yeah, I'd rather not comment on that if that's
03:38okay.
03:39But you know Australian cricket well obviously, in your kind of view, have you ever known
03:44an Australian team not to go 100% full throttle in a major tournament?
03:48No.
03:50Just on tomorrow's game against Oman, what are the biggest dangers going into that?
03:55What have you worked out that you need to get right this time?
03:58Yeah, I think it's a very different opposition.
04:01It's a good question, I think it's a very different opposition to last game, so we have
04:04to adapt.
04:05We've got a meeting after this in our skill groups to just fine-tune and we also haven't
04:11really properly reviewed the other day.
04:13We've let it settle for a bit, we've trained well, but I think that some of the lessons
04:17that we learnt, particularly, we didn't go in blindly, but we probably didn't execute
04:22with the sides of the field with the ball that we wanted to get hit.
04:24I think that's somewhere we can tidy up.
04:26And just being a little bit more proactive with the bat in forcing the bowlers where
04:30we want to hit them.
04:31So those are the couple of areas we took out and looking at this, it's a very similar set-up.
04:35The wind is quite strong and seeing the way Scotland exploited that the other day was
04:40something that we'd like to take in as well.
04:43So it sets up well for our team.
04:46Any more?
04:52Sorry to bang on about the Hazelwood thing, but is it a thing, if you were in that situation,
04:58would you do it?
04:59Would you try and stretch it out at the end or whatever needed to be done?
05:02No, not at all.
05:03I think in all these tournaments you want to get your best side out there playing the
05:09best cricket and taking that momentum into the next game.
05:11So yeah, I don't think it's a thing.
05:16Rhys, the Allman players, quite a few, I think Trumpleman's taken a few wickets, Stark got
05:22wickets against them.
05:23Does that bring Rhys Topley into consideration?
05:24Yeah, all options will be considered.
05:27We haven't settled the XI yet, we'll look at training today, get through that and get
05:31around and make that call.
05:33But yeah, everyone's in the mix at this stage and certainly Rhys provides that option up
05:38front, strong power play bowler as well.
05:40So yeah, he's in the mix.
05:42We'll do Ali and then one more if required.
05:44Go ahead, I'll shoot this.
05:47Chris Jordan defended that 20th over pretty well the other day, but he had to do so with
05:50one fewer fielder, and you know, it won't.
05:54An extra fielder inside the ring, which makes his life a lot harder.
05:57It's clearly a product.
05:58You can see, obviously when the ball's travelling, there's a lot going on, but you can see the
06:02captain having to run down to his bowlers, etc.
06:05How can you avoid that, a repeat of that, because it's a World Cup and there's still
06:09that kind of lag that's slowing you down?
06:12Yeah, I think a few teams have gone through it as well.
06:15It's not isolated.
06:16So it's tight, you know, it's really tight.
06:18I think when you get to that situation, it's a bit like when you try to execute a wide
06:25plan, for example, and you bowl wides.
06:28Sometimes that's a better result than going conservative and trying to hit a little hole
06:34in the middle and getting hit for six.
06:36So if it means there's an extra fielder up, sometimes to be able to slow the game down
06:40and get cool heads happening, that's the risk you take.
06:44But it is tight.
06:45It's something we'll definitely look to improve on, but I think the other guys around the
06:51bowlers have been great as well.
06:52Mo in particular and Chris himself does help with the bowlers quite a bit, and that's been
06:57expressed as well.
06:58So yeah, it's something we'll look at.
07:00And you mentioned a similar structure to the other day.
07:02So I'm guessing that means probably one to seven stays the same.
07:04You're not going to think about bringing the extra left-hander in?
07:08We'll have to wait and see.
07:10OK.
07:11But I mean, also, England's middle order, this is a chance to kind of potentially against
07:14a team like Oman to spread their wings a bit, because I'm looking at Jonny Bairstow, we're
07:18still waiting for Harry Brooke to kind of have the big breakthrough innings in T20Is.
07:22Is that how you see it?
07:23Yeah, I think it is.
07:24I think the other day we laid a pretty good platform and Australia bowled really well,
07:29took the air out of the ball and hit it well from us.
07:32So I think we'll take a lot of learnings out of that.
07:35And from all reports, it's a very good wicket out here.
07:37So I mean, ideally, the grunt work is done by the top order.
07:40That's where T20Is should be really won.
07:43But if they do get an opportunity, I'm sure there's a good wicket out there to exploit it.
07:48And is there any chance that Will Jacks could open the bowling in this game?
07:50Or has that plan kind of moved on because of the outcome of the other day?
07:54Look, I think the other day, when it doesn't quite come off, everyone speculates whether
08:00it's the right call.
08:01We had a good over at the start with and probably enticed by Mo's over.
08:06It's probably unlikely at this stage, but I thought it was a gutsy, gutsy try.
08:10And when those things come off, everyone applauds it.
08:13When they don't, it doesn't look as great.
08:14But I like the fact that we're prepared to do some different things and go with our gut
08:19feel.
08:20And that's what we've talked about doing a lot.
08:21So it was gut feel because we saw him warming up beforehand.
08:23So there was clearly an intention that he may be doing that role.
08:28Was it just gut feel?
08:29Because I'm guessing there was data and probably IPL success that went behind it.
08:33Yeah, he was always a chance to bowl in the first three overs.
08:37Probably wasn't going to bowl a second one, was originally going to bowl a third.
08:40So there was definitely some science behind it.
08:43But in the end, I felt the first over went really well.
08:45We knew both the openers there love pace on the ball, but they got that one away early
08:51and then it's a lot more difficult to come back from there.
08:58Do you have any concerns about England's penetration at the start because Scotland didn't lose
09:06a wicket and Australia got off to a bit of a fly which set them on their way?
09:10No, not really.
09:11I do think it's a different ball game when you do take wickets in the power play.
09:16It's something we aim to do and hopefully it comes off in this game.
09:20It does make your life a lot easier when you can come out of the power play and batters
09:24aren't set.
09:26I think over time we'll sort that out and certainly that's a big aim for our guys in
09:31this contest out here.