“We just kept it nice and simple, to get any team 16/5 is great”: Boult
By MI New York Media
A dream start with the ball, a dream finish with the bat. Trent Boult, like he’s done countless times in the past, carried MI New York over the line in a thriller of a contest against the San Francisco Unicorns in the Eliminator. Excerpts from his post-match press conference..
On Hassan Khan’s bowling and his batting
I thought he bowled really well. Picking four wickets late in the game certainly flipped the game. A lot of credit goes to him. I have been in this situation personally a lot of times, trying to calculate a number with how many balls were left. But it’s simple. Any lower order batter likes to target the spin bowlers and I was lucky enough to connect with a couple of them. Great to get the job done and get us through.
On Rushil’s growth as a bowler
Rush (Ugarkar) is a great talent. He trains very hard. He is in a tough role. T20 cricket is about hitting boundaries. From a bowling point of view it’s about being cunning. He’s worked very hard on some good options. It’s a long tournament and he has played across different conditions. Oakland’s conditions were pretty tough, it was a small ground and a pretty good wicket. It swung around a bit here, a soft wicket as well. That’s the challenge as a bowler, adapting to these conditions. I think he’s got a good head on his shoulders to do that. He’s been with the team for a few years now and it’s nice to see him get some reward.
Whether SFU got the rough end of the conditions
Conditions change throughout the tournament. Rain is unfortunate, but if they were batting second they wouldn’t be complaining as much. They had the opportunity to change the ball a couple of times which swung back into a bowler’s favor with the ball gripping and swinging back in. Obviously from my point of view, nice to get it over.
On his bowling performance so far in the tournament
I like to swing the ball. My role is to take early wickets to put some pressure on the middle order. Conditions have changed every game really, so probably a good example of moving from plan A, which was swinging the ball to plan B, which was using the seam a bit more. Nice to get a couple of edges. As a collective, I thought from the bowling point of view we kept it nice and simple. To get any team 16/5 was a great start.