BLACKCAPS Coach Mike Hesson was fairly content with his side’s complete performance in the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The BLACKCAPS defeated Sri Lanka by 98 runs at Hagley Oval in Christchurch as they continued their dream summer of success. Hesson fronted the media this morning to reflect on the ideal start and to look ahead to Tuesday where the BLACKCAPS face Scotland in Dunedin.
What were celebrations like last night?
They were pretty muted to be fair. We had about a 27 game build up for this game. It was fairly draining leading up to it. At the end of the day the guys were pretty chuffed to put in a performance that they could be really proud of.
The fact that it was a team effort must be particularly pleasing?
The fact that we got chucked in, in conditions that could have been pretty challenging, and the way our openers went about it and just took the edge off helped us a lot. We found ourselves in pressure situations at times. The partnership between Grant [Elliott] and Corey [Anderson] steadied the ship and then we showed a bit of power at the back end. We also kept fighting in the field which was good.
You must have been pleased with Corey Anderson and how he is maturing?
Yeah he is maturing nicely and he contributed nicely with the ball as well. He showed some maturity to start with and we know the power that he has got. They had a plan to bowl pretty wide to him and block off parts of the field, he was able to suck that up and access different areas. [It was] a really good innings.
Corey mentioned that he’d love to be the No.1 all-rounder at the tournament, is that something you are imploring him to aim towards?
I think every time we trains and he trains, we try to make him better. He has got high ambitions as does every player in the group. We don’t put numbers on that, but we want to prepare him well and we hope that he has a good tournament.
Do you see the all-rounders as a key to this World Cup?
I think most side have two or three all-rounders, whether that is as a spin bowler or as keeper batsmen, there is a lot of guys who can make major contributions and Corey is certainly one of them.
How did you find the step up in intensity with it being a World Cup?
I think everyone was pretty emotional to be fair. It has been a big build up. We are only one game in but that game had been built up over a long period of time. We were pretty chuffed.
Did you expect more from the Sri Lankans?
We took that [ascendancy]off them in the first hour when our openers set the tone. They brought [Lasith] Malinga back and he’s a big player for them. That over where Brendon took him for 23 changed the momentum a lot. They are always chipping away and when they got those two wickets we got have got 260 – 270 and the fact that we were able to rebuild again was important.
Have you thought about the permutations about trying finish in the top two from Pool A?
No we haven’t. We don’t think too far ahead. We are just taking one game at a time. We have no say in what happens on the other side of the draw. We have only got control of what we can do.
Do you see your World Cup campaign as a juggernaut as Corey described it yesterday?
We just play the game the best that we can and we are playing some pretty good cricket at the moment and we have for the past 18 months in particular. We don’t too carried away. Momentum and confidence is huge and that is part of being consistent and also having a number of players that can contribute to winning performances.
What did you make of the England v Australia game?
I only saw the second half of it but I saw a couple of areas that we’d like to exploit [in England]. Australia are obviously playing some great cricket at the moment and they are one of the sides to beat. They have power and depth right throughout their order and they have an aggressive bowling line up. On their day they are hard to beat but we will come up with some ideas to put in a good performance.
Are Adam Milne and Mitchell McClenaghan in a battle for that third seamer’s role in the big games coming up?
They certainly do a similar role. They are that first change bowler that can keep attacking in those middle overs, but they can both take the new ball when required. Kyle [Mills] has shown has good he can be in certain conditions as well. It is nice to have five guys who are performing pretty well at the moment. I think Adam got better as the game went on yesterday. Being a week – 10 days since his last performance. He got better and bowled with some gas. He would have taken some confidence from those wickets he picked up at the end.
What did you make of Dan’s performance yesterday?
He is a champion isn’t he? He came on at a key time and got Dilshan and Mahela – two of their Big Three players – and obviously going for very few was critical to us. He had the wood over Mahela for a while which is a nice little fillip for us to have against such a good player. He is going to be a big player for us in this tournament and it was nice start for him.
Does it get harder and harder to fly beneath the radar with all this success?
I don’t think that we can do that. We have performed well for awhile and if you perform well you will get some attention. As a group we don’t get carried. We will get to Dunedin, we will freshen up and we will train looking forward to Scotland.
Are you planning any rotation for the “lesser games” like this week against Scotland?
We don’t consider them lesser games to be fair. Scotland smashed Ireland and they have put a lot of other sides under pressure. We will respect Scotland as much as we do any other opposition. We will assess how everyone has recovered from yesterday. It was a pretty heavy ground and there were a lot of sore bodies again. Three games in a week is going to be tough. We will look at who we have got fully fit, we will look at the conditions and we will look to pick our best XI. I think there will be a number of upsets in this tournament and if sides take anyone lightly they could get turned over. We will certainly scout and prepare the best we can for Scotland.
