Australia seamer, Megan Schutt says her side will still be taking the next game seriously despite already qualifying for the semifinals of the Women’s World T20.
Speaking at the post-match conference after their victory over New Zealand on Tuesday at the Providence Stadium, the 25-year-old responded to the thought of being in the semis with a match to go by saying “yeah it’s great, a classic case of one in the hand is better than two in the bush and I think it’s great to be locking in the semi-final position but we wouldn’t be taking the next game lightly.”
Schutt credited the White Ferns for their challenge, stating that during the match “I think they bowled really well in the middle and clamped down on us” but felt the start they had gotten with Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney putting on 71 for the opening partnership was key to them setting that total, opining that “I think we got 10-15 runs over par so 150 plus is defendable.”
With three wins from as many matches, the seamer welcomed the contest from their perennial rivals, saying “I think it was a really good challenge for us and is something that we needed but it’s moments like this that we just need to take a deep breath and that’s what we did out there and not panic.”
Looking at the match, the member of the team of the three-time champions explained that the plan was simple, all they did was “try to keep Batesy [Suzie Bates] off strike as much as we could and give her the single and put pressure on the other end.”
Now looking ahead to their final match against India in the group stages, Schutt described their comfort in the next stage as “a breath of fresh air” saying that the position “gives us the kind of freedom to go out there and play the kind of cricket we want to and we really want to go into the finals producing.”
While she could not confirm if the camp will be willing to test the bench strength, Schutt joked that she hoped not since she wanted to play more.
With three days to their final group match, Schutt said that to have this downtime in a T20 tournament is really handy and they have been pacing their rest up to this point with a lot of the girls being the “brownest they have been” after tanning a lot.
Australia have accumulated six points from three matches in their group while India has two wins from a pair of matches. Pakistan has secured one win from three tries whereas New Zealand and Ireland are winless from their two matches.
