18 February - Gqeberha - South Africa Captain Sune Luus post-match press conference
[Reporter]
Hard luck on the loss, but just wanted to ask you about the atmosphere that was here today. What was it like playing in front of such a good crowd?
[Suné Luus]
Yeah, it was amazing. I think I said at the first match, it was one of the first times I really got emotional at the anthem. I think just to have all the support in South Africa at the moment, everywhere we go, it's been absolutely phenomenal, and I'm hoping it continues whether we play World Cups or not.
[Reporter]
At one point, you know, you were 70-1, and then kind of things didn't go your way. Where do you think things went wrong in that batting inning?
[Suné Luus]
Yeah, I think we just lost a couple of wickets, one after another, and I think that kind of broke the momentum for us, and we couldn't really adjust after that and get to that big score we wanted to.
[Reporter]
So, at one stage, you guys had Australia 40-3, and then Australia out-batted you guys, so how do you out-goal and out-bend that sort of stuff?
[Suné Luus]
Yeah, I guess that's classic Australia. I think, you know, most teams have them back against the wall, and then you just have those stars coming in afterwards and getting that clinical performance, but I think, you know, it was an awesome start from our bowlers, the first 10 overs. I think they just had a couple of world-class players, Talia McGrath number one in the world, and I think we kind of just lost our lines and lanes a bit the last 10 overs, but I still felt like, they batted extremely well.
[Reporter]
Number one, will you have an eye on tomorrow's match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and then also what can we expect from you and your ladies in the final game against Bangladesh?
[Suné Luus]
Yeah, I guess we kind of have to have our eye on tomorrow, but, you know, we still have a game to play on Tuesday, and I think we're very much focused on that, and I think it's our last game against Bangladesh, so I think, we're 100% going to leave everything on that field, give it our all, no matter the result tomorrow.
[Reporter]
You spoke about it being a fresh pitch in your pre-match press conference yesterday. Just speak to us about how was it difficult for batting?
[Suné Luus]
I felt like they bowled a lot of very good lanes. I felt like they hit the wicked hard. Even the spinners didn't really give us much room or bowled it in the slots. I felt like they bowled, you know, hard back over lengths, and the spinners really dug it into the wicked as well, so I think it was a bit of both. I think it was some average batting and then some good bowling as well, but good to see them and how they went about the innings.
[Reporter]
Yeah, so just a question on the World Cup and what it has meant for you guys as a team. Obviously, it hasn't went your way in the first three games, but what has this meant for you guys as a team? We all know that home World Cups are a very rare thing to happen, so what has this World Cup meant for you guys as a team and women's cricket in South Africa in general?
[Suné Luus]
It's meant a lot. I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a World Cup at your home, and I think for your friends and family to be here, it's very special, and I think, as you can see, all the crowds are coming, the people are really supporting women's cricket at the moment, and it's not just our games that they're filling, they're filling all of the other teams' games as well, which is awesome to see, so I'm hoping the nation is inspired, young girls are picking up bats and balls to play, and I think that was one of the main reasons, one of the main focuses for us at this World Cup as well, not only to win it, but to inspire young girls and boys to pick up the game of cricket, and then obviously for it to become a very well-known sport in South Africa.
[Reporter]
Yeah, and yesterday you spoke about the fact that you guys had nothing to, had no reason to hold back, you know, do you feel that that's what happened today, you guys held back, or you guys took the fight to Australia, like you said yesterday?
[Suné Luus]
I don't think the way we wanted to, but I guess that's cricket, it's either going to go your way or it's not, but I'm still very proud of the girls and the performances, you know, some of them put in, you know, when I lose, we stick together as a team, and it's just to refocus and rebuild now for the next game.
[Reporter]
How do you go about planning against a team like Australia, which, as you say, has got so much depth to it?
[Suné Luus]
Yeah, I think if you're going to look too much into a team like Australia, you're going to get lost in what they do, they're obviously a well-oiled machine, a lot of strengths and not a lot of weaknesses, but I think, for us, it's important for us to focus on what we do best and how we've been winning teams, so I think that was our main focus is what we do well and what can we do to try and restrict them to a low total or how can we go about our batting innings, so I think the focus was really mostly on us, where our strengths lie and what we can do better, against the attack we're facing.
[Reporter]
And what's your outlook going forward? Are you still sort of regretting that loss in the first game or do you, feel hopeful given where you've come from, how do you feel about that going forward?
[Suné Luus]
Yeah, obviously the, the loss against Sri Lanka wasn't ideal, but that's cricket, that's World Cups, but we're very much focused on the next game, anything can still happen in this tournament, so I think we're very much hopeful, you know, that tomorrow New Zealand can play a good, a good game, but not too good, but no, I think our focus is only on Bangladesh and the way we can improve our cricket.
[Reporter]
You're speaking about improvements that you want to see made, my guess is that it needs to be the batting, which has been very inconsistent. How do you get that to be more consistent, both in terms of run output and taking advantage of a good start, like you didn't do today or, you know, improving after a bad start?
[Suné Luus]
Yeah, I think it's just backing the brand of cricket we want to play, whether, you know, our backs are against the wall or not. And I think, you know, creating a brand of cricket and trying to do that every single game is, is something that you work on and something that, that takes time. I think we're still a very young squad and we've got some players in the team that's obviously their first World Cups as well. So, I think that's going to take a while, but we still have some experienced players who need to take responsibility with that brand of cricket. But luckily we have still one game to try and play that brand of cricket that we want to play.
[Reporter]
What is this brand of cricket that you want to play?
[Suné Luus]
100% attacking. I think if you look at cricket around the world and where it's going, teams are posting 160 plus consistently. So, I think, that's definitely the way or, you know, where cricket is going. And I don't think we, we can stay behind at 120s, 130s, so we definitely need to be more attacking.