Chris Silverwood (Sri Lanka Head Coach) Post Match Press Conference transcript | SL vs UAE | T20 World Cup 2022
Q. It’s been a while since you got a win under your belt in Australia. How does it feel?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: It feels good. It does feel good. Obviously, winning always feels much better than losing, but it was nice for us to turn up today and put in a good performance. Obviously, there’s always going to be areas we can improve on. And we will look to do that in the debrief and come back stronger.
But I thought the way that we applied ourselves in the field and the way the bowlers went about their business today was superb.
Obviously Pathum at the top of the order played a much better knock and should be proud of himself for what he’s done and obviously helped the team across the line.
Q. Chameera got injured towards the end, was it a bit of a concern?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: Obviously we need to keep an eye on him. The medical team will be watching him overnight. Then potentially having a scan tomorrow and we’ll make a plan from there, really. But let’s get all the information in first and find out exactly where we’re at and we’ll have to make a plan.
Q. After the Netherlands game, was there any chat surrounding the net run rate? And if so, can you elaborate a little bit?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: We’re always looking at things obviously like the run rate and everything else and all the technicalities that go with the game. But I think the most important thing was that we turned up and made an impact on this game. First and foremost, we won the game. And then obviously looked to do it in style as well, which the guys have done tonight. And obviously it’s helped us massively.
Q. And any thoughts about the number four spot, we saw Danishka replaced in the previous game, anything on that?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: Again, something that we’ll have to look at with my coaching staff and have a chat with them. But it’s certain we could do with someone coming up with that position, it’s not through lack of trying and not through lack of training. The boys are training really hard. But it is a concern. We’d like to get some runs out of that position.
Q. On that middle order, how much is the sort of compromised prep with the wash-out and the difficult surfaces here in terms of getting started playing a part of on that front for those guys in the middle there?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: I think certainly the temperatures we’re experiencing, the boys are not used to. So I do feel from — it’s not Columbo here. I’m even cold. Says a little bit.
But obviously you can’t help but watch it, the preparation we’re given and the facilities and the help we were given having arrived early was superb. I can’t fault any of that. The boys have prepped the best we possibly can. We had a good camp before we actually got in an aeroplane and flew here. So, we’ve made the best of what we’ve had really. The boys have had some good practise.
Q. It’s been a very difficult track to get started. How hard is it having the guys to adjust out there?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: I thought we adjusted pretty well there today. Certainly, in the first game we didn’t read the conditions particularly well. We certainly didn’t adapt to them. There’s no hiding from that. It’s something we spoke about in the debrief, quite honestly. And they faced the facts and they’ve come out today and obviously applied themselves much better on this track. The track was a little bit slow.
We saw that if the bowlers bowled a hard length it was very difficult to get right away. We had to be patient. We had to build innings and had to build partnerships. For the majority of today we did that.
Q. How confident are you in Sri Lanka qualifying for the Super 12?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: I’m always confident. I’m the eternal optimist. We’ll always be looking to win and obviously progress. I’m confident in the boys’ ability. But at the same time we have to make sure we turn up, we put in a performance like we did tonight, because as we’ve seen these teams here are dangerous. We’ve got to make sure we give them the respect they deserve and come out fighting.
Q. When Dasun went to face the hat-trick ball and he became a victim of it, what was running in your mind?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: Firstly, well-bowled to him. For anybody to get a hat-trick in a World Cup is absolutely fantastic. Something he’ll remember forever.
It’s just unfortunate that Dasun was part of a hat-trick. But we knew that we had people that could go in and bat. We knew we had a decent foundation to work from. And we knew that anything sort of above 140 would be a decent score having watched the first game.
Q. What kind of advice did you and supporting staff give to the boys when they came out to bowl ?
CHRIS SILVERWOOD: It was really simple. Having experienced the first game here, watching the game before us, we knew we had to build partnerships. We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to go out there and just strike the ball from the word go.
We had to earn the rights to score runs here. Equally, listening to the commentary and the feedback coming off the field in the first game, we knew 140 would be a competitive score. That was the initial aim. And then obviously anything above that would be good. But I think first and foremost we had to get ourselves in and be patient at times and build partnerships.
And if you do that, then you give yourself an opportunity to put a decent score on the board.