Here is the full transcript of England captain Harry Brook’s press conference after their February 11 match against the West Indies.
(Reporter:)
Harry. Where do you think went wrong today?
(Harry Brook 🙂
We probably didn’t perform as well as we’re usually capable of. We didn’t play the ball well enough and they probably got 15, 20 too many.
(Reporter:)
Do you think it was with the ball? I mean, how did you feel halfway through?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Well, we thought it was chaseable, definitely. Obviously we planned for dew and it didn’t quite dew as we thought and it didn’t slide on the bat like we expected. But yeah, T20 cricket is such a fickle game and West Indians are such a powerful side.
(Reporter:)
Six wickets on the spin, I think it changed the look of the game a bit after the power play. Are you fighting spin in this part of the world?
(Harry Brook 🙂
No, I don’t think so. The series against Sri Lanka showed that. I thought we played really well there. They packed well; they stayed in the game the whole time. As you said, we lost quite a few wickets in bunches, which never helps.
(Reporter:)
And just a few words about Adil Rashid, who returned to his brilliant form after a tough game against Nepal, just goes to show that what happened on Sunday probably didn’t faze him.
(Harry Brook 🙂
Yeah, unbelievable. This is the Rash that everyone knows and loves, and his skills and grabs out there were incredible to watch.
(Reporter:)
Harry, yes it’s the World Cup no doubt, but the points don’t transfer, or rather the seeding doesn’t change in the Super 8s either. Does it occur to you in the pre-season when you play against two of the best teams? Does it really change the view?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Not really, we just tried to take it game by game. And like I said, West Indies probably played a better game than us and they deserve to win. And now we have to focus on the next match.
(Reporter:)
You mentioned that series in Sri Lanka when you played quite well against Spin. Does the pressure of the World Championship pursuit come in a situation where it hasn’t gone so well?
(Harry Brook 🙂
One thing I would say is that we were probably a little cautious. Chasing close to 200 is always a big challenge and like I said, we didn’t think — we thought the pitch was going to get a little bit better and it was going to slide on the bat a little bit more, and it didn’t, but yeah — like I said, we were probably a little bit cautious, myself included.
(Reporter:)
It’s like your dismissal, maybe Tom’s dismissal, like popping catches, rather than… I mean, you’ve said that yes, you can be caught on the boundary rather than on the field or behind the ball, or do you mean something like that?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Well, I’d much rather get caught at the border than I did today. But yeah, that’s part of T20 cricket. He was probably the main threat at the time. So I personally was just trying to knock it into the leg and get Sam back on strike.
(Reporter:)
And Joff, expensive day for him today, probably not at his best against Nepal on Sunday. Are there any concerns?
(Harry Brook 🙂
No, not really. Everyone knows how good Jof is. Will definitely be back. The bowling is fast and I am sure he will perform better in the coming matches.
(Reporter:)
A quick turnaround between today and Scotland, of course you’re going to Kolkata now, I just wanted to know what are the positives you can take from the two games you’ve played at the Wankhede? Because one result of course worked for you, but it went down and today of course it didn’t work for you. What positives can you take to Kolkata?
(Harry Brook 🙂
I think we can take a lot of confidence not only from the match in Nepal but also from the last T20 in Sri Lanka, both of which were close matches. We can take a lot of confidence from them and in the depth with the bat that we have as well, we put on a spin and we still needed 50 from four overs and we still believed in ourselves. So I think we can have a lot of confidence in the future. Obviously it didn’t pay off today, but it would work on another day.
(Reporter:)
In terms of playing the rotation, what are some things you could do a little better in the tournament?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Like I said, I thought we played great spin in Sri Lanka and we just had a bad day today. We couldn’t get over the line and they bowled well.
(Reporter:)
And you said you’re very, very deep. It’s almost as if you didn’t use this build as much as you could because you didn’t go as hard as you could before. Is it a bit of a feeling?
(Reporter:)
There it comes back to me that it is not enough, we were a little cautious. I think with the power we have on the back end. Like I said, myself included, I feel like I could potentially have taken a little bit of a risk earlier knowing that we still had Jacksy, Jamie Overton, to come in. And with the strength and depth we have, we think we can go after almost anything. Of course we didn’t do that today.
(Reporter:)
When we talk about Motie, left-handed, he mixes orthodox and wrist. Does it cause any other problems when you meet him?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Well, it was kind of obvious that he was only throwing leg spin to lefties today. He is a good bowler; he has been a very good pitcher for the past few years. I have faced him a lot and he has a lot of skills. He manages to hit his length consistently.