England in a good place despite not being at their best: Liam Dawson before Pakistan clash

Here’s the full transcript of Liam Dawson’s press conference before the Pakistan vs England Super 8 clash

[Reporter:]

How important was that win today given the situation of the group you had a wash out last night to start on a winning note today?

[Liam Dawson:]

Massive – if you get to this stage of the tournament, it’s almost a new tournament now for every team here. So, to get a win in the first game for us was pretty good.

[Reporter:]

Still not put that perfect game together, as I’m sure you’ve heard Harry just say. Does that give you more confidence of what lies ahead?

[Liam Dawson:]

Of course, we know that we can play a lot better than what we’ve played. But at the end of the day, in tournament cricket, you just need to get the win, however ugly it looks. Today, I think we probably didn’t bat as well as we’d like to have batted. But I thought the way we, The fight we showed with the ball in the field shows that this team is in a very good place.

[Reporter:]

Pakistan next. Have you guys spoken yet about how to combat Usman Tariq?

[Liam Dawson:]

No, not yet. Obviously fully focused on this Sri Lanka game. But yeah, we’ve obviously got tomorrow to have a look at the Pakistan team. Obviously, they’re a very good team, some dangerous players. And obviously, Tariq’s obviously a very good bowler. So, yeah, I’m sure the boys do the homework there tomorrow.

[Reporter:]

You came in ahead of Jamie Overton today. What were your instructions when he came in? How did you think you went?

[Liam Dawson:]

Obviously not ideal, six off 12. I’d obviously like to have hit a couple of boundaries but yeah I think it’s just trying to hold Jamie a little bit further back for when the seamers came on. Obviously lost a few wickets but yeah, I’d obviously like to have a few more runs, but we’ve got the win, which is the main thing.

[Reporter:]

England have struggled against spin in this tournament so far, and Pakistan obviously have a lot of spinners in their team. Is that an issue? How do you improve from here?

[Liam Dawson:]

I think we’re very good in the bilateral series here against Sri Lanka, where we played spin. We’ve had a couple of tough games potentially, but we’ve won. At the end of the day, we know that we can bat a lot better than what we’ve batted, but we’ve won games of cricket and that’s the main thing.

[Reporter:]

You have been, the word that’s been repeatedly used about your performances so far with the bat is tentative. Did you feel at the end of your innings that you’d fallen into that trap again Or did you feel that you had a score that you could defend in the way you did?

[Liam Dawson:]

I think we were a little bit short, if we’re honest. Probably 160 was a decent score on that wicket. But I thought the way Phil Salt played, his normal game is to attack from ball one. I think he reigned it in really well there. He was the batter in, so if he had to try and bat a little bit deeper than probably what he would normally bat. So I thought he did an outstanding job. But yeah, we didn’t have no choice as a Femme 146. We know that you’ve got to bowl a team out probably to win that game. And I thought the way we fought on the field and with the ball was exceptional.

[Reporter:]

I know Tom’s definitely faced Tariq before. Have you played him? I don’t think you have, have you? No. Has there been much chat, just because there’s been so much chat about him during the tournament, has there been much around the dressing room? I know we saw Harry trying to bowl with his action in the nets the other day, but Has there been much chat about him during the tournament? Has there been much around the dressing room? I know we saw Harry trying to bowl with his action in the nets the other day, but has there been much chat about him just generally?

[Liam Dawson:]

No, not really. I think it’s not all about Tariq. I think they’ve got a very well-rounded team as well. They’ve got a lot of very good players in their team. He’s obviously a good bowler, they’ve got a very good team. We won’t just look at him, we’ll look at the whole team and see how we can nullify that.

[Reporter:]

Certain cricket grounds bring out the best in players, people have their own favourite grounds. Did you feel coming here as a team that you’re actually quite glad to be in Pallekelle the way you’ve been playing over the last month or so?

[Liam Dawson:]

Well I think we had a really good series here against Sri Lanka in the lead-up to the World Cup with conditions that we could potentially expect to come against us in the World Cup. I think today’s wicket was a lot better than what we played on during those three T20s. So yeah, we’ve obviously had a lot of game time out on this ground. But as I said, we’ve a lot of experience in these conditions and that holds you in good stead, but at the end of the day you’ve still got to play good cricket on the day. Obviously a different challenge on Tuesday against Pakistan, a night game. I’m guessing the pitch will be a little bit different, but we’ll have to come Tuesday and see what it looks like and you know make a plan to try and win the game.

[Reporter:]

Spins clearly, we’ve been talking about spin a lot here and obviously there’s yourself and Will and Rash and you seem to be sort of alternating who bowls when, is that something that’s one of the developments of this team being able to be versatile and when you come on to bowl?

[Liam Dawson:]

I think so, yeah. I think we’re all very different type of spinners as well. Obviously, Jacks gets very good overspin, very good bounce. Obviously, Dilly has all his variations and me I sort of don’t get the bounce that the other two get. We’re very different in how we go about things. I think the way Brookie captained today was phenomenal, how he used us all differently. Obviously, a different challenge on Tuesday, a night game. Could be a better wicket. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.

[Reporter:]

Harry was saying that it was a toss-up between you and Jacks to open the bowl. You’re basically ready to bowl whenever, so if it’s power play or whatever?

[Liam Dawson:]

Yeah, I spoke to them yesterday, they said you might bowl on the power play depending on the situation, so you get that comms very early from the captain and the coach. But I think that’s the beauty of this ground. I think you can bowl whenever and be versatile. So yeah, we’ve obviously got three or even better, four good spinners that have exploited conditions here in the past. And as I said, we’ll have to see what Tuesday holds. It might be a lot better wicket and different plans might need to work differently but we’ll have to wait and see.

[Reporter:]

Harry said that because you defended 130 here not too long ago that you know today you had 17 runs extra and have you felt as a spinner his kind of trust in in the spin group in general change over the last month since you guys kind of arrived in Sri Lanka?

[Liam Dawson:]

I think we’re all very experienced. You look at the amount of cricket that me and Adil have played, even Jacks as well. It’s probably only Beth that’s a little bit less experienced when it comes to bowling. But yeah, he puts a lot of trust in the guys to go out there and try and execute what you want to try and do. Some days it works and some days it doesn’t. I think T-Spain can be a little bit fickle sometimes. But yeah, he’s done well so far and hopefully he can continue for however long this tournament goes on for us.

[Reporter:]

What are the chats you have in between games and how are you all helping each other?

[Liam Dawson:]

As I said, we’re all very different. Out of the three or four of us, I’m probably more the defensive spinner in this and I know that’s my role and I’m just trying to be consistent for the captain. Obviously, Adil can use all of his tricks and he comes on to get wickets and get us back in games or put us ahead in games. Obviously, Jacks, he’s been brilliant. He’s exploited conditions here very, very well with the overspin he gets. So we’re all very different and hopefully we can continue, obviously including Beth (Jacob Bethell) in that as well.

[Reporter:]

Have you worked a lot with Beth (Jacob Bethell) as another slow left arm?

[Liam Dawson:]

Not what loads of them know, obviously being around the next year bowl a little bit together. But yeah, obviously any time he’d want to chat obviously would help him and vice versa. He’s more over the top, the way he bowls, more overspin. That’s something I’d love to get better at. So yeah, obviously works both ways and we’re always learning.