Trent Boult upbeat ahead of the encounter against Bangladesh

New Zealand’s equation to qualify is very simple- either Australia beat England, and they beat Bangladesh which would make Australia and New Zealand the two semi-finalists, or if England wins their encounter against Australia, all that the Kiwis have to do is to manage a win against Bangladesh in their Group A encounter.

The Group A matches have had their fair share of rain, notably the one between the two rivals Australia and New Zealand in a match, where it looked like the Kiwis had the upper hand over their cross-border neighbours Australia. Post that washed-out encounter; the Black Caps faced the home side in a desperate attempt to steal a victory, which of course would put them ahead of the Aussies but little did it materialise.

Apart from the weather conditions, the pitches in England have not had their support for the seam bowlers in the Group A encounters, with scores of 300+ being a regular sight in modern day cricket.

Conditions not favouring the bowlers

With the conditions not favouring the bowlers, Trent Boult was asked if there was any advantage having played in the condition, to which he replied, “Yeah, I guess it’s a bit of an advantage, but I’m sure the Bangladeshis have done their homework, and yeah, no doubt would have watched what went down the other day. But yeah, new surface, it’s going to be interesting to see if it plays anything like the other one did.”

Interestingly enough, England have transformed from a green turf to a one which has become a sort of dust bowl for the quicks’ to pick up the wickets. Most dismissals in the tournament thus far have been from a false shot, or due to a lapse in concentration from the batsmen that have led to the wickets.

“Yeah, I guess not just myself but the rest of the bowlers on our side, the swing bowlers generally like to exploit anything out of the air. I guess there’s a little bit of the ability to just try seaming the ball. But yeah, when it’s not seaming and it’s not swinging, obviously we need to look at different measures. Yeah, I suppose once the opposition starts coming at us giving more chances, that’s when we can kind of cash in,” said the left-arm quick when asked about the conditions in England for the pace bowlers.

“But yeah, I think we all know the importance of getting wickets early in the innings and putting the team under pressure is where you can really set the game up for people. That’s the challenge tomorrow. I’m sure we’d love to come hard at the top order, which has been playing very well. But if we can do that, I’m sure we can, yeah, set up a decent total to chase down or obviously sit,” he ahead of the encounter against Bangladesh.

The Test of the Tigers’

Last time, the Asian side faced the Kiwis in a tri-series tournament, the Tigers’ emerged as winners with a fantastic display. “Bangladesh are a quality side. Yeah, come the triangular series last month, obviously we had a few players out that weren’t involved in that but yeah, they are a quality side. We know they are going to come hard,” Boult said.

“It’s a must-win game, so it’s going to be an exciting challenge. Once again, their batsmen have been making runs. I think Tamim at the top of the order is a quality player. Definitely is a blind unit; we need to take wickets, but it should be a very good encounter,” he further added.

Swinging conditions: not anymore

Finally, the left-arm swing bowler was asked if the lack of swing in England has been a worry for the pacers, he stated that the bowlers would want the pitch to help the pacers, with a hint of swing early in the innings.

“I don’t think it’s a technical thing from my point of view or from any of the bowlers, but looking across at no one’s really swung the ball as we have seen in the past; example of the World Cup a couple years ago.” added the 27-year-old.

“Yeah, it is a bit disappointing. You would like to see the ball banana-ing around, especially at the top of the innings. But yeah, I’m not too sure what you can put it down to. It’s one of their things and it’s a good challenge to test your waters and see how you can get wickets in other ways,” concluded the left-arm seamer disappointed with the conditions in England.