Mark Greatbatch
The BLACKCAPS coach talks about the injury concerns, the top order and the bowling options.
On injuries in the team…
“They have got some niggles, rather than going into it, we have got a few injuries and it’s a slight concern. Some of our guys aren’t able to sustain the schedule at the moment and there is a bit of a plan in place going forward over the next year to try and improve that. I think it comes down to probably doing a bit more work on Tour, which is not easy because your playing games of cricket, but trying to get the guys more attuned at practice time. For example a bowler does about 18km in a One-Day International and at training we are only doing about 8 or 9km so it’s trying to up the level of preparation so they can actually sustain it over a longer period of time.
On player availability for the next match…
“Well that’s the objective, your always looking for fit players and Ross Taylor seems to have got through yesterday well and Tuffey and Franklin look a lot better.”
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On possible changes in the team…
“We haven’t decided on that, we have got training this afternoon. I think you will see some changes, if those guys are fit. We got a little bit of a lesson yesterday it was probably our worst game of the Series and we need to readjust and go back and look to try and counteract what we have put in front of us.”
“I just think all round we didn’t bat and bowl well enough, we did bits, we went towards it but we didn’t actually execute. We need to stay long in the game with this side, Australia, and if you don’t you end up getting pushed backwards.”
On whether the Australian team now have an advantage…
“They are 2-1 up. We have got two to win, to win the series. We are not thinking about Wellington, obviously we are thinking about Auckland. For me sports always about you always start from scratch, from ball one so as long as the mind set is right. We just need to go longer and better over the next 100 overs.”
On the top order…
“We are losing wickets early. We seem to have had a reasonable run rate but probably losing one or two too many in that fist 10 or 15 overs. So you could see a change there.”
“It’s not so much approach, we are trying to be aggressive but with it you need to be smart, when the Aussies bowl good balls to us we need to defend those well and negate what they are trying to do which is obviously to take wickets. Johnson has been a thorn in our side, he has taken wickets when he has come on each time.”
“We have got some options, I would say you are probably going to see some changes. Our best players have got to get a position in the order to actually try and win this game of cricket for example the batting side, which is my part, you’ve got McCullum, you’ve got Taylor, you’ve got Guptill. I think Vettori comes in to that. I think we might have missed a beat with Vettori I think he is a bit reluctant sometimes to go up and I think we need to get our best in certain areas in that order to create that momentum we are looking for.”
On the bowling options…
“We look to try and go long with our batting and back our bowlers to do that job, the five main bowlers, and use Guptill as a bit of a sixth bowler.”
“With the other two guys, Franklin and Tuffey coming in to the equation, the balance of our bowling unit will be better.”
