Ross Taylor
The BLACKCAPS battings star talks about the BLACKCAPS plans, performance and beating the current World Champions.
On building momentum…
"Momentum is a big thing in Twenty20 cricket – even if it is a warm-up game it’s very important."
On scoring 170…
"I think 170 was a par score on that wicket – we probably would have liked to have scored a little bit more."
On the batting performance…
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"Throughout the whole batting performance we got partnerships of twenty or thirty and I think we got enough momentum to have a bit of a dip at the end."
On the game plan…
"We were still trying a few things – there were a few things with our order we were trying out, and I still don’t think our plan is finalized."
On being the underdogs…
"Reading a few papers nobody’s really mentioned us too much – we’re slipping under the radar a bit. Winning this game, we might be talked about a bit more. New Zealand, on the whole, is always the underdog, and we don’t mind taking that tag."
On their chances in the tournament…
"We know that we’re a good side and that we can play competitive cricket. We’ve made semi-finals in the past, and in the last World Cup, but still no-one really talks about us. We’re happy about that and hopefully we can prove a few people wrong."
On the preparation so far…
"We’ve had a few players come from the IPL so they’ve been ready and played a lot of cricket, and a few boys that have come out of a winter. So there’s still a bit of improvement to go but I’m sure we’re not too far away."
On the number seven batting spot…
"I think we’re still trying to figure that one out [the number seven spot]. It’s going to be a tough spot – there’s still three or four guys vying for that spot. I’m sure in the next game we’ll try a few different things and hopefully someone can put their hand up."
On the key moments in the match…
"There’s probably a couple of turning points. [Vettori’s catch] comes to mind … but probably the way we bowled at the death. I think Jacob Oram bowled very well, and even Scott Styris – I think he got hit for a boundary of the last ball of his second over, but just going at singles during that period brought us back in the game."
