ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 29, 2022

Ryan Cook

Perth Stadium

Netherlands

Pre Match Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us for this prematch press conference. We're joined by Ryan Cook for the Netherlands ahead of their game against Pakistan. We will start with questions from the floor first.

Q. Ryan, you must have seen the Zimbabwe and Pakistan game. You must be hoping to do the same tomorrow?

RYAN COOK: I think every team wants to win the game that they play. But, yeah, we've obviously seen that Pakistan team is beatable, so that's good to know.

Obviously, playing them in the World Super League not so long ago in the Netherlands has given us a lot of confidence because we came quite close in those matches. Hoping to get over the line this time. It would be great.

Q. You bowled and fielded exceptionally well against India. In fact, you got KL Rahul out. There was a dropped catch with Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the ball. Then Suryahumar came in and accelerated. What's the plan going to be against Pakistan because they also are a little vulnerable as far as their batting style is concerned?

RYAN COOK: I think just similar plans for us. We're really proud of the way the guys bowled and stuck to their plans. Obviously the fielding as well, barring a couple of mistakes here and there.

So hopefully more of the same. Our bowling attack is firing well, and hopefully we can keep taking a for more wickets to give ourselves a bit more time at the back end to be able to make some inroads into the Pakistan batting order.

Q. What does it mean playing against India and Pakistan back home because it's a different kind of buzz when you play against good teams?

RYAN COOK: Obviously, the World Super League we played against a couple of the good teams now, so we're more familiar with it than we were last year. That's a really positive thing.

To play against these teams in front of big crowds in big stadiums on a world stage is, obviously, really important for the guys. For their development and growth, but obviously, everyone really excited to showcase their skills as well against these types of teams.

Q. You guys did very well against India in the first 10-overs. Only around 67. Then the next 112 runs were made. What do you think exactly what wrong?

RYAN COOK: I'm not sure if it was how much we did wrong versus how much they did right. Obviously, bowling against Virat Kohli and Sky was very difficult, both batsmen in lots of wickets. They had a lot of freedom to play. They change their gears really well. They took on some excellent options.

In fact, when we reviewed and looked at the actual bowling performance itself, we actually nailed a lot of the plans. Obviously, we're not going to nail every single ball, but against those particular batsmen on that particular night, they, obviously, got the better of us, but we were proud of how the guys stuck to their guns.

Q. Netherlands played a lot of ODIs against stronger teams running up to the World Cup. How would you take that experience coming into the World Cup, and would you have preferred to play more T20s against those teams than the ODIs because this being the T20 World Cup year?

RYAN COOK: I think we're grateful for any games we can play against the major nations, whether they're T20s or ODIs.

Part of the Super League allows us to be able to play against them longer and test our skills in a different format. But we did come and obviously prepare against a lot of the teams. We've played some local teams here. We played against Afghanistan as well in a warmup game as well as the other warmup games.

Really feel prepared for what we are receiving. Obviously, to play against the international opposition throughout the last year and a half or so stands us in good stead for what's going into this tournament.

Q. Can you tell us what you are expecting from the Pakistanis, because as you rightly said, when there was a battle series between you and them, you were very close in those games. So can you tell us what made them weak or what kind of areas where Netherlands wants to excel to get a win from this game versus Pakistan?

RYAN COOK: I think the unique thing about this fixture is it's, obviously, played in a completely different environment.

Obviously, being in Australia versus being at VOC in Rotterdam is different conditions. I think what also makes it different is that our team is quite changed in comparison to what we had there.

Mostly Dutch-based players playing in that game and that one-day series compared to now in the T20s where we've got a lot of the county players back. So the teams are a little bit different. Obviously, as well a few changes on the Pakistan side with a couple of guys coming back from injury.

So we're familiar with our position, although I'm sure there will be some changes depending on the conditions and the scenario as well.

Q. Was there any opportunity after the last game to add a one-on-one interaction with out Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma getting into the Indian dressing room or something like that?

RYAN COOK: We didn't get into the dressing room itself, but it was really nice to see Chahal came and worked with little Shariz Ahmad, our leg spinner, and gave him a few tips of advice, which was really nice.

A few of our players have played with Virat or, obviously, played against him, so he introduced Virat to a few of the players, and a few guys got a bit of a chat.

We didn't get into the changing room as such, but took a lot of experience from that as well.

Q. Ryan, given the vulnerability of Pakistan, do you think tomorrow's match gives you guys going in with a bit of a mental edge?

RYAN COOK: I suppose both teams start on zero points tomorrow, and both teams are even in that regard.

Yeah, I think we're two good teams that are going to go and fight it out there tomorrow. Coming into these conditions, as I say, we're confident and positive if we do the things that we can do well that we can overcome them.

It's not up to us how they play, but we can control how we play, and I think that's really the most important part that we follow those processes and make sure that we tick those boxes for ourselves.

Q. Paul van Meekeren said he would prefer teams traveling to England would stop over in Netherlands and play their practice games there and stuff, you know, county games. This has also a year where the ODI Super League has been scrapped, and we know the mismatch of the number of fixtures associate teams get. So when you get to a stage like this, do you go in with a point to prove?

RYAN COOK: In some ways, yes. Obviously, we just are trying to play the best cricket that we can play.

It's a great idea from Paul van Meekeren. We would be very grateful for all the teams coming through, and I think all the teams that came through to us were very complimentary of the facilities, obviously, of the wickets that played there, and the competition they got while they were playing out there.

I think it would be a great opportunity for the Netherlands to play a few more games when the Super League is scrapped against the test nations. Yeah, I'm hoping that I a few guys take us up on that.

Q. On the flip side, do you feel that there are some people -- some administrators waiting for the associates to fail so that they can make a point that we need to keep them out of the big events?

RYAN COOK: I don't know enough about what goes on in the back rooms there, but no. I think, obviously, we try our best with the resources that we've got to be able to compete in tournaments like this and any tournaments that we come up against. So, obviously, trying to make the most use of that.

If the location is close to some of the test-playing nations, then great. I think if you think about UAE cricket and what Dubai and Abu Dhabi has done for that in terms of the facilities that they have, it's definitely made a difference to their cricket, and hopefully it can do the same for the Netherlands as well.

Q. I want to know, what's the discussion going on among you guys? Any special planning to face the Pakistani team?

RYAN COOK: I think all the bowlers that you come up against in this tournament face a different challenge. Obviously, Pakistan bowlers have a lot of pace, and we've faced them before, so we're more familiar with what they have to throw at us.

But they do have I a very well varied attack, so we'll be having to put our plans in place for them. Obviously, all the different batters are coming up with their individual plans against them and practicing those in the nets, so we'll be able to bring them out tomorrow in the match.