ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 7, 2021

Kyle Coetzer

Sharjah Stadium

Scotland

Post Match Media Conference

Pakistan 189/4, Scotland 117/6

Q. My question regarding your batting today, as in the previous match against New Zealand you have played very valid, a fine show of the bat. Almost you are getting that target. But today your batting has collapsed, so how do you rate the Pakistan bowling and New Zealand bowling?

KYLE COETZER: I think both attacks are slightly different. Both attacks have some excellent skill and variations in there. I would say the Pakistan attack has more pace in there. New Zealand do also have that option, but they're both fantastic bowling lineups. They've got the ability to bowl it quickly, they've got the ability to take the pace off it, and I think you saw it today from Pakistan how they can use the surface, whether it be bowling short or into the pitch or cutters, they're very skilled at that. Both great attacks.

Q. On Brad Wheal, only bowled two overs and didn't come back in the death. Could you just explain the reason behind that?

KYLE COETZER: Yeah, of course. Chris Greaves, the decision was made that he would bowl, come in and bowl the last over. It was also -- we also decided it was tougher to take down the spinners on that surface, and we just tried to keep pace off the ball. That was the plan behind it.

Greaves, Chris Greaves, had bowled excellently, if it wasn't for Shoaib Malik there at the end who was a fantastic hitter of the cricket ball. We got two balls into that over and he was bowling it perfectly and Shoaib used his skill, and his ability to range hit it is pretty spectacular to be fair. But I wouldn't put it against Greavo to take that on again.

Q. Just to follow up, you obviously ran New Zealand close a few days ago, maybe a couple more disappointing performances since. Has fatigue been a factor towards the end? You guys have been on the road for such a long time now.

KYLE COETZER: No, I wouldn't like to say that. Look, we've prepared well. The guys are -- we think we're playing pretty decent cricket. The standards have certainly gone up once we hit the Super 12 stage, and we had to find a way to adapt as quickly as we could. Playing cricket in the UAE isn't easy, and I think we learned a lot from this occasion.

Yeah, we have been away from home for a little while, but I wouldn't like to use that as an excuse. I think we've got to look at ourselves and see where we can continue to improve, and I think we've shown signs of that out here. Look at Richie Berrington's innings today against a fine Pakistan attack. I thought he played outstandingly well. It may go under the radar because we lost, but it was a great knock.

Q. Just to follow on from that, how would you sum up this adventure over the seven, eight weeks, and what's next for you, and where do you want the team to go?

KYLE COETZER: Well, hopefully there's a lot of exciting things ahead. We've obviously got another World Cup to start preparing for and a lot of world cricket league series in between. This seven weeks or so I'm extremely proud of how we've played and what we've achieved. We've got an excellent group, and the guys are willing to learn. They're trying to learn as fast as they can. Being exposed to what we have been exposed to in the Super 12s is only going to make us stronger and make us actually realise some of the skills on show and some of the efforts you have to put in to achieve it at this level.

I think we've shown on a couple of occasions almost what we're capable of. We've got plenty left in the tank. But hopefully from the seven weeks or so we've managed to inspire as many associate nations as we possibly can and hopefully certainly inspire young cricketers back in Scotland.

That's why we're here. We're here to try and give it all for our country and be able to inspire as many people as we possibly can. That's how I started many years ago, watching Scotland play in the World Cup, and hopefully there will be a few more boys and girls coming through that will want to play cricket for their country.

Q. How would you sum up your strong points and weaknesses coming out of the World Cup?

KYLE COETZER: Before coming out to the World Cup or since coming out?

Q. Now when you are out of the World Cup and you have done your job, you have completed your matches, how would you sum up your weaknesses and strong points?

KYLE COETZER: Not that we have never played here before, we have done and quite a few times, but what we've realised is the importance of the powerplay. We haven't really nailed that yet in terms of with the bat. I think the importance of how to play high-quality spin bowling. I believe that we're a very strong side and very capable of playing spin bowling, but it's a different story when you come and play at Sharjah and you come and play at some of these grounds out here and the style in which the mystery spinner is coming down. We have to go away and look at that and see how we can develop that as much as possible.

I think we need to be a little bit braver as a bowling unit, perhaps. We've noticed a number of the teams out here actually been double bluffing quite a lot, setting fields and bowling balls that don't necessarily match up, but what they do do is they nail those -- they execute those deliveries extremely well.

Look, there's a couple of things there just off the top of my head, but there's plenty to learn from and plenty to improve when we go home.

Q. My question is beyond victories and defeats, what were the other boxes that you probably wanted to tick as a team, and to what extent have you managed to achieve that in this tournament?

KYLE COETZER: Yeah, as a team we want to showcase the skills that we have. We also wanted to gain as much experience as we possibly could against these teams that we faced in the Super 12s. Reaching the Super 12s was our immediate goal, and we achieved that, but we need to learn as much as we possibly can from these games because 12 months down the line, we've got another World Cup to go to.

Yes, it's going to be in different conditions so we have to factor that in, but we now know, because we've experienced it, we now know what to expect because it had been a number of years since we played at a World Cup. I think it was 2016. And we didn't manage to get to the group stages then. A huge achievement to get through to the Super 12s, and that's going to put us certainly in a better place moving forward.

When we go home, we have to be -- I've mentioned it before, we have to be bold and brave to make sure we push our whole organisation forward. We have to find a way to improve our A team structures when we're at home, and we have to find a way to keep developing this team, this squad of players that we have.

We've got a long journey to go on, but it's an exciting one to be a part of. Who wouldn't want to be part of Cricket Scotland right now after following this tournament and seeing how well these guys have done? Look at Richie Berrington today; he just showed the class that he has. Look at Mark Watt throughout the tournament; he's been outstanding. Hamza Tahir came in today and did a fantastic job. Safyaan Sharif has been fantastic with his early skills with the ball and at the death.

Look, I could go through the whole lineup. Chris Greaves, he's got to have a mention the way he bowled against Bangladesh and the way he put his hand up to bowl the last over of the game today. That's some fantastic team spirit we have there. We've got some great following, great team spirit, and really, really just want to thank everyone back home for all their support. It's been outstanding.