Is Stonis fully fit?
He won't be available today. He hasn't bowled yet in his recovery over the last couple of days. So having four days between this game and the next game, I think that will be the ideal time to test him out and assess him. But I think over the next five, six days, there will be a call made on that, just based on what he can and can't do.
Sri Lanka have not played any game for the last few days. Do you think it’s an advantage for your team?
It’s not ideal, is it, when rain plays a big part in a tournament like this. I think Sri Lanka have been unlucky with a couple of games they have had watched out. You look down their side, and there's a lot of experience there. There's a lot of world-class players. You can never take any team in this competition lightly, but I think the fact that we've been playing consistently, basically every three days for the last two weeks, has been — has been really positive that we're in cricket mode at the moment.
Going off last game, would you be more confident or less confident going four quicks again?
Like I said it's really tough at a ground like Taunton being so small. I thought that the wicket would actually spin a little bit as the game went on, but it didn't. So that was probably tougher at a ground like Taunton. I think here at The Oval, you see one that there’s a lot bigger side so you can play a little bit more defensive with your fifth bowler, as opposed to having to try and attack with him. And that's what the four quicks allows you to do. It gives you an opportunity to attack from one end while being defensive at the other. It's just that, so small, Taunton, that it's tough to even be defensive as a spinner there.
The team’s fielding looks a lot sharper now. Can you take us through the amount of work put it?
I think having Smith and Warner, back in the ring there, that creates a huge amount of presence. They are both — or Dave, in particular, is so quick. He mightn't have the best arm at the moment but he's so quick to the ball that you can't run. Maxwell, we know how good he can be. He's up there with the best in the world when he's hitting the stumps like he did the other day, at a crucial time. All our quick bowlers are really good. All our spinners are good. Zams has really safe hands. So it gives you an opportunity that you can keep the guys in; the fast guys, the guys who anticipate the play, you can keep them in the circle for longer. But when you have got confidence in everyone, anyone can field all around the grounds. That's been a big change is to get them world-class fielders staying in the ring for longer.
You want to build towards your best cricket in World Cup. When do you want to see the batting lineup click?
Every game would be nice. Obviously it's tough. You are coming up against different opposition all the time and I talked about it in terms of changing your preparation, and adapting game by game because you don't get into a original many against the same team like you do for three and a half years in between World Cup. To come up against different opposition, you're facing different challenges all the time. So it would be nice for our batting to just keep improving. I don't think we've gone anywhere near our best, which is still a good thing; that we've got six points on the board while not playing anywhere near our best cricket, which is a real positive. But as long as we're improving, and continue to go up and not go backwards, I think that's the key.
Courtesy — © ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2018
