ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 18, 2022

Jason Holder

Bellerive Oval

West Indies

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. Not the start to the tournament you wanted. How is the attitude and feeling around camp at the moment?

JASON HOLDER: Obviously we had a tough start yesterday. We were all disappointed with the performance that we had yesterday.

But I think the most important thing for us to do is to come together even tighter now and try to find solutions. We had a pretty good chat yesterday after the game, and I'm sure guys went to their rooms and reflected on the performance yesterday.

No doubt I think we have what it takes to turn it around. And more or less we need to hitting the ground running against Zimbabwe starting that game out well and beating them.

Q. The team struggled against the first two spinners yesterday as they took a combined five wickets, only letting 26 runs. Is that a common theme we'll see throughout the tournament, you guys not playing so well against spin?

JASON HOLDER: I hope not. Yeah, they bowled in tandem yesterday, we probably didn't have the answers. But I'm not too worried about our play against spin. For us it's just playing the situations a little bit better, building a few more partnerships in our middle phase of the innings and then setting up nicely for our heavy hitters at the back.

Q. Zimbabwe tomorrow, they had a good game last night. What are you expecting from them?

JASON HOLDER: I'm expecting the same thing they did yesterday. They're a very good cricket team. We played against them quite a bit in the recent past. And they have been more and more competitive. They seem to be on a nice winning streak too as well. We expect a highly competitive game. Probably one of the toughest games that we're going to have here in this competition.

And no doubt we know the magnitude of the game. So it's more or less us going and scoring, performing, trying to keep in the game and keeping the momentum as long as possible.

Q. Disappointing game, that goes without saying. And you mentioned just now about the solutions. When I look at the Scotland innings, they scored 160 runs. Eight runs an over, they only hit one 6. And of course, the West Indies, like we always do, we try for the big shots. Most of our wickets were batsmen going for big shots. You top scored with 38. But you ran between the wickets, played a lot of shots on the ground. Will the West Indies look to adjust the way they approach innings and try to move away from this six-hitting way, because we tried it last year at the World Cup. It didn't work in the United Arab Emirates. And it seems like we're going to go down this same road this World Cup. Is the West Indies looking to change the approach that they bat?

JASON HOLDER: Look, we've got to find solutions, man. We obviously didn't bat well yesterday. And we probably let ourselves down with a bat in the recent past. I think we just got to be a little more situational aware and trying to build partnerships. Partnerships is a key in a cricket game.

I think the situation in the game will determine how we play. And if that requires we go for boundaries, we look for boundaries. If it requires we have to knock it around for a bit, then we've got to adjust. We've got to make the adjustment and then knock it around.

I think it's that simple. And we just need to understand what's required of us when we go to bat and just try to find ways to form partnerships to make it easy as we go in the tournament.

Q. Yourself and Alzarri Joseph did pretty well with the ball. How it is bowling in Australia?

JASON HOLDER: The conditions here are really good for bowling as well. You tend to get a little bit more bounce on these surfaces, a little bit more movement. We had a tough power play yesterday, but it was great to see the way the guys brought it back. We kept ourselves really well with Indie with the middle overs. And I think we did decent at the back end. And I think if you aren't successful -- if we had chasing beginning of the game T20 international game, more or less we've got to be a little bit more clinical maybe when we bowl and then definitely improve on our batting.

Q. And despite the disappointing loss, what are some of the positives that you would take as we prepare to play Zimbabwe?

JASON HOLDER: As I said, the way the bowlers came back in the game was a plus for us. I think we finished the game well. And then we obviously had a pretty decent powerplay as well. When we batted, we just faltered in the middle. We didn't have the wickets in hand to give ourselves a good shot at chasing the total in the back end. Those are a few powerful notes to mention. We were pretty good in the field as well.

Q. How would you understand what was the analyses of in the dressing room after the very much unexpected defeat against Scotland, where did you think the team lagged?

JASON HOLDER: I think it's clear. We didn't bat well. We were four down by the tenth over. And that's not ideally where we need to be in a given T20 match. We've got to really set it up better for the back half to really prosper. We just kept losing our wickets at a bad phases of the game and I think that's where the game got away from us. I don't think there's much more, like we said. They said, when you keep a team to 160 in T20 cricket, you expect to walk at home. But we didn't. So just a matter of us to really look at how we build partnerships in the middle and to really set the game up for the back half.

Q. How do you plan to tackle the dipping net run rate which has obviously gone below, and do you think that the team is going to miss big hitters like LaSalle, Palaro [phonetic] players in that process?

JASON HOLDER: I'll answer the second question first. I don't think we're missing everyone. We've got every tool we need in this dressing room.

To answer the first question, it's just a matter for us to really just dig deep. There's no other way to really put it. We've got to keep pressing as you said, bring it together.

Q. You said earlier about how you got together and had a chat last night after the game. I mean, can you just tell us a little bit it? Was it honest? Did people get angry? What was the chatter like?

JASON HOLDER: It was a very frank and honest discussion. I've been a part of many dressing rooms where we've had similar discussions. What comes out of it, I guess we'll wait to see against Zimbabwe in the next game.

But there was a lot of honest discussion within the dressing room and guys really shared how they felt personally, got their emotions across. I think it's important to have constructive conversations within the dressing room. It only builds the character of the team. So I think once we continue to be honest with one another, then go and execute, then I think we'll be in much better stead.

Q. And like you said, you've battled these kinds of discussions especially with regard to batting in the past even as Test captain. As you left the meeting yesterday, did it feel like everything was aired out, we can make a fresh start tomorrow?

JASON HOLDER: Look, I think tomorrow would determine if the chats and discussions were fruitful. We just need to deliver. It's no uncertain terms about it. I think we've got what it takes to win this competition within our dressing room.

But there's no point in just having the talent. We've got to produce it. Execution is the name of the game. So more or less we just need to find a way to put it together, not only put it together in the batting front but a complete game.

I think we've still got to look every facet of the game. In the field, we say fielding wins games, and we've got to be consistent with the ball as well. We've got a big challenge ahead of us in terms of bringing together a complete game and making sure we win these next two games.

Q. You spoke about bowling in these conditions. We saw even in the second game, Test match lengths sort of being used by some of the taller seamers. Do you see that going forward where that replaces maybe the focus on yorkers or wide yorkers and all that?

JASON HOLDER: I think definitely up front you've got to keep it very simple, just hit the top of the stumps with whatever movement you have. The square boundaries here are a lot shorter. More batters tend to target them. So I think if you're got that full of length, allowing the ball to move up front, then you're definitely within the game.

As the game goes on and the field spreads and you get deeper down into the innings then you make your adjustments with your variations, but I think more or less up front it's normal standard Test match length.

Q. Can we expect any changes to the side?

JASON HOLDER: I think when you see the captain and the coach, you can ask that question. Look, as I said before, and I keep saying, we've got 15 members here who can do the job for us. It doesn't matter who goes on the field. I think once we cross the lane, we have to cross the lane as a unit and cross the lane as one family and one common goal in our minds.

I think if everybody buys into that plan, doesn't matter who plays in the 15, as I said before, we have what it takes in the dressing room. Just need to execute.