Head coach Jonathan Trott frustrated after Afghanistan semi final dream ruined in 12 overs

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Head coach Jonathan Trott frustrated after Afghanistan semi final dream ruined in 12 overs after recording lowest ever score 56 all out to South Africa  27/06/2024  ICC24  Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba

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00:00Jonathan, did you have enough time to recover from the highs of making it to the semi-final

00:15and that too in such a close game and then just the euphoria and then very little break

00:22in between.

00:23Did you I guess get enough time to recover?

00:26It's obviously not ideal playing the last group game and then playing the first semi-final,

00:32only having a day in between as well, not ready to train, but that's not a reason or

00:37an excuse for...

00:38Can we start that again please?

00:46Start again.

00:47Right?

00:48Let me start that again.

00:52Yeah, obviously playing the last group game and then playing the first semi-final isn't

00:57ideal and travel yesterday and getting here and not really having a day off, if you like,

01:07but we knew the schedule so that's not an excuse as such, so when you go on in World

01:14Cups or tournaments you can't have everything your own way and you've got to fight and play

01:19against the odds, which you've done at times and I'm very proud of that, but that's not

01:24a reason why we didn't win today.

01:28I just saw that clip on Instagram, your bus journey, flight journey, the boys were still

01:39soaking it in.

01:41You having watched them from close corners, can you describe how it must have felt for

01:47them to make the semi-finals?

01:51Well yeah, I think obviously we only got back to hotel at 3 o'clock and then we had to leave

01:56at 8 o'clock the next five hours later so we didn't get much sleep so the guys are obviously

02:00very tired and a lot to process really, emotionally, physically, so all new territory for the guys

02:08and it all plays its part I suppose in a way, but we outplayed today and I'm sure the guys

02:16hopefully learn from this experience.

02:20I think we've obviously gotten one better than the previous 50 over World Cup in November

02:24and it's just about taking it step by step and hopefully we learn from today, the batters

02:30certainly, what it takes to play international cricket and play against a bowling side like

02:36South Africa on a pitch that's perhaps not conducive to high scoring runs and finding

02:42ways of winning games and we've found ways of winning games, we just couldn't find a

02:46way today.

02:47Yeah actually, I just wanted to ask you, what actually went wrong after taking batting first

02:55because this Port of Spain has become Port of Suicide for you?

02:59Sorry, I can't hear what you're saying.

03:01Actually what went wrong after winning the toss and taking batting first because Port

03:07of Spain became Port of Suicide for the batting of Afghanistan because they came all the way

03:15with good performance in the semi-final, so the pitch was taken wrong or something went

03:21wrong?

03:22Well I just think South Africa bowled pretty well and they knew how to bowl in the conditions

03:29once they saw how the pitch was behaving and I just think as bad as we haven't fired really,

03:34the middle order hasn't fired enough this World Cup, we've perhaps been a bit too reliant

03:38on Goebbels and Ibrahim to get runs, nobody else has got runs and we need to find a reason

03:43for that, we need to get more batters in who are going to score runs and be more consistent

03:49like the openers have been and given us a chance in games so that's the project for

03:55going forward.

03:56Certainly in all formats as well, 50 over white ball cricket as well, getting middle

04:00order batters and top order batters like we have at the openers with Ibrahim and Goebbels,

04:06so that's the focus for now and what I take away from this World Cup obviously is too

04:15reliant on the openers maybe.

04:18Jonathan commiserations first of all, obviously not the kind of ending to a wonderful World

04:23Cup so far, I assume it's a sad dressing room out there right now, but do you think

04:29the players realise that they have already defied expectations in this World Cup, that

04:34they have already overachieved and how long do you think it would take for them to let

04:39this just sink in and go home with their heads held high?

04:44I think whenever you lose a game like this it's always going to hurt and it should hurt

04:49because we put so much into it, there's so many sacrifices made by the players, coaching

04:53staff, management, officials, all that sort of stuff, so yeah obviously it hurts at the

04:59moment, we arrived to the ground in high spirits, ready to take on a strong South African side

05:04and make sure we gave a good account of ourselves and I feel like we haven't done that today

05:09so that's the most disappointing thing and I'm very proud of the guys, this one performance

05:13doesn't necessarily define the tournament but it also gives us an indication of where

05:18we need to work on and what we need to get better at, if we're going to be competitive

05:23more consistently and who we can rely on is certainly with the bats and who's going to

05:30get us over the line, certainly if we have to chase as well.

05:32Jonathan, do you think you made a mistake in assessing the wicket, in hindsight it would

05:39have been better to go fast?

05:41No.

05:42Jonathan, you just spoke about, you know yes you got to the semi-final, you're taking one

05:50step at a time, like you played so well in the 50 over World Cup and you're taking the

05:55next step by getting to the semi-final, so I know it wouldn't have sunk in yet this defeat

06:02but would you look back at this campaign and say we've picked that off, we're in the knockouts,

06:07we made it to the knockouts once so we can do it again and just build with that confidence?

06:12I think maybe in a couple of weeks' time when everything's sunk in and your emotions aren't

06:17in it, I think once you're in it and part of a World Cup and you've been here for over

06:22five weeks preparing for a night like tonight, I think it's sort of hard to think like that

06:30but I'm sure we will in a couple of days or a week or so.

06:36It's important that a match like this doesn't overshadow all the good matches we had that

06:41got us to this situation or this position, but it's just nice if we can just find other

06:49ways with the bat of winning, that's what I take and that's what I'll be working on

06:56from tomorrow onwards.

06:57I guess you can't take too much away from a match like that, but just the spirit of

07:05the side, I mean I saw during the innings break Rashid Khan was really keen on getting

07:09out there and the umpires were holding you guys off, waiting for the umpires to come

07:13out.

07:14Just little signs like that do you take from, and what was happening out there when you

07:17guys were?

07:18Oh yeah, normally what's happened is because teams have gone over with the reviews and

07:22over time, that eats into the dinner break, but because we were so short, we had the proper

07:2720 minutes which felt like half an hour, because normally we've only had about 10 minutes because

07:32people have gone over and then it's only a 10 minute break, so we thought it was, obviously

07:37naturally instinctively, we've played so many games it's been quite short, so that's

07:40why we were there, but we fell five minutes early.

07:45But anyway, so that's okay and I think we had our chance, if we had reviewed Markram

07:51there would have been 6 for 2, different game.

07:54If we'd got 120 then there was 6 for 2, a completely different game on that pitch, so

08:01they played well and we obviously didn't play too well either.

08:05Thank you Jonathan, there have been some very interesting pitches all through this

08:10World Cup, there have been some interesting pitches all through this World Cup, this one

08:16had both uneven bounds and sideways seam movement, which I'm not making it sound like an excuse

08:25or anything, just from a neutral point of view, what do you think of such a pitch for

08:31T20 games, especially a knockout, which is like the showpiece for a World Cup, and where

08:38batters are just fighting for survival in a T20 game?

08:42I don't want to get myself into trouble, but obviously I don't want to come across as bitter

08:47or sour grapes, but that's not the pitch you want to have a match, a semi-final of a World

08:53Cup on, plain and simple.

08:57It should be a fair contest, I'm not saying it should be flat completely with no spin

09:01and no seam movement, but I'm saying you shouldn't have batters worrying about going

09:05forward in the ball, flying over their head, you should be confident in their foot movement

09:09and being able to hit through the line or use their skills.

09:13T20 is about attacking and about scoring runs and taking wickets, not looking to survive.

09:20If the opposition bowl well and get to a position where they bowl very, very well and it's through

09:27skill, then that's fine to them and then it's about adapting to that, but once the ball

09:33starts misbehaving and rolling, if we had bowled as straight as South Africa had, I

09:37think you would have seen a very interesting second half as well.

09:42South Africa bowled well, used the conditions and showed our boys what it's capable of,

09:48but it just didn't go our way tonight.

09:52Thank you, Jonathan.

09:53Can you tell us a few lessons that you learned throughout the tournament and how can you

09:59improve your middle order since you have been struggling for the last couple of years and

10:06we have seen a couple of times in this tournament too.

10:08The last question, what is your message to the people of Afghanistan back home and around

10:15the world about the performance Afghanistan have played in this tournament?

10:20Thank you.

10:22What have I learned?

10:25I think we've learned we can defend most totals if we give ourselves enough runs and give

10:33our bowlers enough to bowl at.

10:36I've learned that we need to adjust more with the bat if they aren't exactly flat wickets.

10:43I've learned that we've got some very talented players and the fielding I think has been

10:52pretty good as well.

10:53Our fielding standards have improved immensely and I think the players realise the hard work

10:57that they are putting in is actually starting to show off, but also starting to show up

11:02in their matches.

11:03There are a few other things that I will be chatting to the players behind closed doors

11:11about.

11:12Sorry, what was the second part of your question?

11:18I mean the middle order batting, struggling.

11:21Middle order batting, struggling.

11:22Yeah, that's what I said, we've got to find batters who can bat in the middle order in

11:26T20 cricket.

11:27I have an idea of who they are and the players that are going to be doing that so we'll be

11:33working really hard in the next short term to get those players in playing T20 cricket

11:40and ODI cricket.

11:43The message is thank you for the support, it's been a great tournament so far, a great

11:50ride with the players and I hope that we've inspired young kids to pick up a bat and a

11:58ball and play cricket and want to play for their nation and hopefully everybody is proud

12:05of the side.

12:08Jonathan Commiserations, just as the tournament is now officially over for you all, can you

12:13sum up the impact of Dwayne Bravo on this team?

12:18Dwayne's been immense and a great guy to have around the dressing room, always calm, rubs

12:24off on the bowlers and always willing to chat to the bowlers and batters as well.

12:29Very generous with his time and his passion for this side.

12:34I'd only ever played against Dwayne before and I think he's a cracking coach and I love

12:41working with him.

12:46Cricket's in good hands if there are people like Dwayne coaching the game and coaching

12:50the skills and sharing their experience so I wish him well wherever he goes and coaches

12:56next and I certainly hope our paths cross as soon as possible.

13:01He's been brilliant and it's been great to have him with his professional attitude and

13:06I think that's certainly rubbed off on the players and they've seen what it takes to

13:10be at their best and play the amount of cricket that he has.

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