T20 World Cup 2021: I Just Said I'm Going To Try And Hit Every Ball For Six - James Neesham Reveals Thought Process During Kiwis Semifinal Run Chase Against England
New Zealand all-rounder James Neesham said that his plan during the last few moments of the run chase against England was simple – try and hit every ball for a six. On the back of his and Daryl Mitchell’s knock, the Kiwis defeated the favourites, England, and marched into the final of the T20 World Cup.
It was a tough run chase for the Kiwis, where Eoin Morgan’s men had the upper hand up until the 17th over. The turnaround happened with four overs to go, in the over bowled by Chris Jordan. Speaking about his thought process during that phase, Neesham said:
“I just said to Daz [Daryl Mitchell], I hit CJ [Chris Jordan] for a six second ball, and Daz sort of came down and said: ‘what do you think?’
“I just said I’m going to try and hit every ball for six. It doesn’t always come out of the middle but chunked a couple and got enough to get over the rope. Yeah, ended up doing reasonably comfortably in the end.”
“I think that’s the situation you want to be in when you open the batting. You just want to be still there having faced 40-50 balls at the end and he was obviously seeing it very nicely and striking it well. It was just a case of hoping we hadn’t left the run too late, but like I mentioned before plenty of time to spare in the end,” Neesham was quoted as saying to NZ’s in-house media team.
“We’ve got out sights pretty firmly set on the final” – James Neesham
James Neesham further mentioned that the team will be satisfied only after winning the final. The win against England is a definite confidence-booster but shouldn’t become one that brings about complacency in their approach for the final match, as per Neesham.
“It’s a situation worthy of celebrating I guess – winning a semi-final – but you don’t come halfway around the world just to win a semi-final. We’ve got our sights pretty firmly set on the game in a few days’ time…
“I’m personally, and we as a team, are not getting ahead of ourselves. One game to go and I’m sure there will be a bigger outpouring of emotion if we manage to get across the line.”
“Look, I think we’re experienced at it. We’ve done so well and so consistently in tournaments across five or six years. We know how to I suppose hit the reset button and put a win or a loss behind us pretty quickly.
“We’ve got pretty robust strategies around how to prepare for games with scouting, planning, and all that kind of stuff. So, those strategies will all kick over the next couple of days and we will get back on the training paddock tomorrow I think, and prepare as best as we can,” Neesham added.
The final of the T20 World Cup will be held in Dubai on Sunday, where Australia and New Zealand will battle for the trophy.
