Andy Moles
The BLACKCAPS coach talks about the last test match, motivation players and lessons learned.
On the message moving forward…
"We know that we didn’t do the basics well enough. We didn’t bat long enough in pairs, we didn’t bowl well enough in pairs for a number of overs. Something we pride ourselves on is our fielding and we were woeful. We are very disappointed in our performance on the last day and are really looking forward to Napier to give a better account of ourselves."
On changes to the team for the next test…
"There will be additions. Jeetan will come back in. He’s done well in his last game. I see he’s got 44 runs to go along with his five-for. We obviously need to have cover for Flynn [Daniel] who has a bit of a bruised left hand and also O’Brien [Iain] has a bit of a side strain. We hope that he will be alright. The selectors will look at the rest of the side and see if they need to make any changes. There will be one or two extra people around in our preparation and then Dan [Vettori] and I will look at the wicket and make the right selection to get the right result down in Napier."
On including Jacob Oram…
"I think about Jacob Oram regularly. He’s a world-class cricketer and see that he got through 15 overs yesterday so I’m sure he will come into the thoughts of the selectors."
On making knee-jerk changes..
"That’s the danger isn’t it? We are not making any excuses. We under performed and we feel that we have to make sure that we give the players that were selected a week ago, that were deemed the best players in this country to take part in the test match, and a week later I don’t see a wholesale amount of changes. I think that for the continuity in the side and the growth in the team and also in the sharing confidence of the players it is important that we don’t have a massive change to the team."
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On taking a lesson from the batting of Sachin Tendulkar…
"Massive – It’s all about making sure we bat for long periods of time as I said. Sachin showed that in the early part of his innings by his own admission he wasn’t the fluent Sachin that we’ve seen in stages of his career but he recognised that and got through those difficult times and as he got in it got easier. It’s the age old theory that the longer you bat the easier it gets."
On change the players approach to the game…
"It’s all about shot selection, getting the tempo of your innings right, to the state of the game. If you are playing on a flat wicket and you’re racing away and the opposition aren’t bowling too well, obviously the tempo of your innings changes. Test cricket is all about, in my opinion, adapting to the game that is unfolding in front of you and our players have to realise the type of innings that’s required and the type of innings that the team needs. Over the game, I suppose we need to score 700 runs to make sure we are in the game against this Indian team. It’s easier to score in the first innings than in the last innings. We need to bat 120-130 overs to make sure we get 400 plus, hopefully 450 plus, and if we do that then we get a base where we can try to put this Indian team under pressure. In this last game, from literally after the first half an hour of the game, we were always chasing the game and it’s difficult to do against a quality team."
On the BLACKCAPS being out of their depth against this Indian side….
"I wouldn’t have thought so. That’s a strange question and think that in the test table one’s at eight, one’s at three I think and there’s obviously a big difference in the league table but it comes down to how we perform on the wicket and perform in the matches. As I said, we under performed in this game and think that we are all looking forward to a gutsier, smarter performance in the Napier test match. They are certainly a proud bunch of players, they know that they under performed and we’re looking forward to giving the Indians a tougher examination in a few days time."
On motivation the players for the next test…
"As I said, the guys are a proud bunch and disappointed to lose on home soil in the manner that they did but that happens in cricket. We’ve got a young in experienced side and we’ll learn from that and have got to be better next time around."
