Here is the full transcript of Harry Brook’s press conference ahead of the India vs England semi-final in Kolkata
(Reporter:)
T20 World Cup semi-final against India, is it as good as it gets in India? And is everyone excited? What’s the mood like in the camp?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Yeah, it’s definitely up there. For most of us, it is a dream come true to play a World Cup semi-final against the home nation at a very iconic ground. So we’re all really looking forward to it.
(Reporter:)
Morne was here earlier, described the likelihood of a shootout tomorrow. What is your prediction for the game?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Forecast? No, we’re obviously going into the game very confident. We are playing good cricket. We didn’t quite put in a perfect performance and I feel like it’s just around the corner. Hopefully it’s tomorrow night and we’ll go out there and play with freedom, play bravely and yeah, look to take it from them as much as we can.
(Reporter:)
The manner of your victories, , sometimes the teams you played looked like favorites to win, but you clearly won the decisive moments in those contests. Does it lend an air of perhaps not invincibility, but rather a sense of being close to invincibility?
(Harry Brook 🙂
No, definitely not unbeatable, but I think it gives us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow. We won them close games, which proved to be very important in the World Cups. And we have a lot of confidence in the deeper parts of the game. We won games, like you said, that we probably shouldn’t have won. And I feel like we’ve never been out of a game so far, which is what holds you well in these world competitions.
(Reporter:)
It was in this room that it was announced that India would be the team to beat England. Of course, there was a general consensus among the teams that India would be the strongest competitor bar none. But again, I just wanted to point out that since you became captain, the only team that has a higher winning percentage than India in T20I cricket is England. Do you go into this match with that in mind, adding to your stride the confidence of being the most performing T20 team in the last few months?
(Harry Brook 🙂
I didn’t even know that to be honest. That’s news to me that yes, we’ve obviously played some good cricket over the last year and hopefully we’ll play some more good cricket tomorrow. I believe India has been the favorite from the start of the competition as they should be on their home ground, home crowd and know the venues better than anyone else. But T20 is such a fickle game and anything can happen.
(Reporter:)
You say that England did not play an ideal game. Need a perfect game to beat India in Mumbai? Or maybe they are a bit over the top?
(Harry Brook 🙂
No, I honestly don’t believe we need a perfect game to win the competition. The games we won were far from perfect and yet we managed to win some of them convincingly and pull away in other games. But it’s just the unity that we had to be able to get over the line, the belief that everyone showed during their matches and the composure that we had when the bowlers got stuck, stood on top of the mark or for example the way Jacks and Rehan played it last night, they were extremely calm and it took 40 from the last three over the last three to get us over the line.
(Reporter:)
Just a bit of a random question regarding team composition. When you came in as captain you brought back Tom Banton in your first game, you brought Will Jacks back for the first time at seven and Liam Dawson back a few years later. Was that the vision you had for the team? Did you fight for these people to go where they went? How did those changes come about?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Of course, when I took over it was a year away and I felt it probably needed a bit of planning and that was a bit of a part of the planning, to try and get them some game time and then slowly build their confidence knowing that they were going to be in the side most of the time and that they played their roles beautifully. Jacks, for example, had four games in this World Cup, but he was the best player in the competition, arguably. Dawson also played a huge role in many games. Banton won us a few games off his own bat. And yes, it’s just with that confidence, knowing that you’re going to be around for a while, and thankfully that’s what got us this far in the competition.
(Reporter:)
How personally rewarding it is to make those big calls that put players in positions they’ve never played in before and you’re in a World Cup semi-final and you’ve been rewarded for that.
(Harry Brook 🙂
Oh and I’m close to all three of them too, so when I step on the pitch I know they’ll have my back, agree or disagree, but they’ll have my back with any decision I make when I’m on the pitch and then they’ll fight for my corner at every opportunity.
(Reporter:)
How important is it to have friends on the team?
(Harry Brook 🙂
First and foremost, they have to be good enough cricketers to make the team. But I think it makes a big difference when that someone has your corner and fights for you until the last ball. And the three of them and well, the whole 11 have done beautifully since I took over.
(Reporter:)
Harry, you have been praised for your captaincy, the way you have led this England side in this T20 World Cup. But for a player like Jos Butler, who is experienced, who was a former captain, as a young leader, how do you deal with him? What are the conversations like when he’s not running? And is it time for Butler, such a big player, to light up this semifinal with his bat?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Yeah, you don’t have to talk to him much. I think leaving him alone is probably the best thing you can do. As we all have seen, he has been the powerhouse of cricket for many years. I’ve been asked this question a thousand times and I don’t think there should be any reason to question why he’s on the team.
(Reporter:)
You have mentioned tense situations in your previous matches, but it should be noted that England have been able to bounce back from difficult situations, whether against Nepal or Pakistan. How important is it for a teams confidence to know that your team can bounce back from any situation, especially going into a crucial match like a semi-final?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Yep, massive confidence. Like I said before, we don’t feel like we’re ever going to be out of the game yet. All it takes is one of the top seven to get a decent score, or one of our five or six bowlers to have an amazing day out. And all of a sudden you walk away with a win and that’s what we’ve done so well so far. Everybody’s chipped in a little bit in that game against New Zealand, everybody had a role, whether it was the back ball or in the field, so it’s definitely been mostly team performances so far, but I feel like a big individual performance is coming soon.
(Reporter:)
Can I just talk about the importance of momentum? India has already been in two knockout matches and reached the semi-finals. Is this even a reason to advance to the semi-finals?
(Harry Brook 🙂
I don’t know. That is for them to answer. It has nothing to do with me.
(Reporter:)
(Inaudible)
(Harry Brook 🙂
We have to go out there and play our game. Like I said, it’s up to them to answer. That is their question.
(Reporter:)
You made a lot of tactical calls that worked for you in this tournament, even in big situations. Can you talk about the tactical challenges you will have as captain against a team like India with all the variables that come into play when playing at that venue?
(Harry Brook 🙂
Sure, we’ve got a lot of stats, we’ve got a lot of video, we can see where the batsmen are trying to hit the ball, we know the cartwheels and what not, we know the matchups, it’s just about making sure it’s uncomfortable for their batsmen for as long as possible. They’re obviously very good and they can adapt to different pitching players, but my job is to try to make it as uncomfortable as possible for them.
(Reporter:)
Harry, the last time you were here in India for the T20 series, I think maybe Varun Chakravarthy got you out a few times. So, did you manage to work him out somehow, train him against his style of bowling in the nets? And does the 100 against Pakistan give you confidence that you can now tackle the spinners and power in Sri Lanka better again?
(Harry Brook 🙂
I feel like England always talk badly about playing against spin, we went to Sri Lanka and won six games in a row against the subcontinent who are very good in their own backyard and we have a lot of confidence playing on spin pitches. Chakravarthy is one of the best bowlers in the world and I will try to face him and give as many runs as possible against him.
(Reporter:)
What are you doing here off the field? Do you think it will be this green tomorrow?
(Harry Brook 🙂
I don’t know. You are asking the wrong man. I don’t know anything about goals. I’ll talk to Baz tonight and tomorrow before the game. We’ll look at the stats and see what to do first if we win the toss.
(Reporter:)
Tomorrow’s match will be played on a surface where you lost the match against West Indies and Italy beat Nepal. It was a pitch where the spinners had some assistance, 14 wickets were taken by the spinners in these two games. So is it something that plays in the back of your mind when India have quality spinners like Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel and how do you plan to rise to the challenge?
(Harry Brook 🙂
We also have some very good spinners. Our pullers looked very good during this competition and they must also try to rise to the challenge. India have produced and have always produced very good spinners and we know that and we have accepted going into this competition that we will face challenges, especially on pitches that can help spin. But as I said earlier, we’ve played six T20s, three ODIs against Sri Lanka in this world competition in Sri Lanka and we’ve only lost one match, so I think we’re going into it with a lot of confidence and as I said before, I feel England’s players give a bad rap against spin.
