BLACKCAPS all rounder Corey Anderson made an emphatic statement that he’s an all rounder to be wary of in a tournament where all rounders will be key. 75 with the bat, and two late wickets to help seal the win made him man of the match. Typicall for this team , he was keen to talk about the team performance first.
“We obviously led into the tournament with plenty of confidence and some good ones under our belt, but we obviously knew that it all meant nothing come today. So put on a performance like that and get the points, it's really good.
“I think we're obviously excited for the win, but we know it's early stages of the tournament, as well. It's our first game, and we've still got a long road to go before we can start at looking to, I guess, make those quarters, as well. We'll take everything in our stride and obviously celebrate the win today and then push on for Scotland," said Anderson.
Coming in at six after Sri Lanka had hacked through the the top order by getting Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in two balls, Anderson’s 75 is one of the most important innings he’s played. His panic free approach was down to the preparation the team has been through in the last 12 months.
“I think we've always been put in positions over guess the last 12 months to be able to adapt to what we have to deal with. It's obvious that everyone has had a good dig in the middle and everyone has chipped in with runs, as well, so we've all played our part, and I guess it's just about knowing that situation that you're in.
"It's always nice to have someone like Grant who's out there and he's older and played a lot of cricket, as well. Yeah, it's just one of those things, you obviously put the team first and you sum up the whole situation and go from there. When you had Ronchs sitting in the shed as well and how much, I guess, damage he can do at the end, and I knew if I stayed in and Grant got going, as well, we could put a better than par score on the board," said Anderson.
As for his personal ambitions – make no mistake, he’s keen to make a big statement in this tournament.
“I guess that's the goal other than to win this World Cup is to obviously try and be a number one all rounder in the world. I made a decent start at it today, I guess, but I'm always going to have times where I might not be bowling or I'm going to be called on to not bowl much at all. It's just one of those things. You don't go out there trying to do everything. I guess you listen to what your captain says and you go about your business. But yeah, I'd imagine it would be more of pace bowlers, allrounder kind of feel with what kind of wickets are here in New Zealand, as well,” said Anderson.
