Phil Salt (England player) post-match Press Conference - 19th June 2024
[Reporter:]
Well played. How much fun was that?
[Phil Salt:]
It wasn't much fun in the middle. No, that was great fun. To come here against a very strong side who are riding that wave of momentum in their own conditions and with their home crowd. To play in an innings like that alongside Johnny and come away with a win is a great feeling.
[Reporter:]
Did it feel like that was the best cricket you've played as a team in quite a while, given the crowd, strong opposition, a lot of riding on it at the start of the Super 8s? Did it feel like everything came together?
[Phil Salt:]
Yeah, it did have that sort of a feeling about it, I wouldn't say completely. It's been a very stop start for us. We had a hiccup against Australia and then, the rain out against Scotland. It's been a real topsy-turvy start. It didn't really feel like we played much cricket up to this point. But, yes, I feel like in tournament cricket, you need a bit of confidence and momentum at the right time and you need it to keep building. So, to get a win against the hosts tonight gives us the first push in that direction.
[Reporter:]
And looking back to when you were last here, there's something about this West Indies team, isn't there, that brings out the best in you?
[Phil Salt:]
Yeah, Darren said that to me. I don't know. I don't know what it is, maybe I match up well against him. Maybe you could probably argue, I'm slightly more conservative in the power play against him. But I'm not sure what it is, but I'm just pleased to come away with a win.
[Reporter:]
You mentioned on TV that Johnny had a speaking to you when that tough bit in the middle, what was he saying to you out there?
[Phil Salt:]
It was more about me batting through, once Jos got out, I was always going to sort of play the anchor role, especially when we sent Moeen as the lefty. I think it was about me just batting through that period and waiting for my time to strike and obviously Shepard coming back from that end was my time to pull the trigger.
[Reporter:]
Did you decide in advance that was the over to go or what made it the over?
[Phil Salt:]
In the back of my head I did, I didn't vocalise it to Johnny, I didn't want him to say no - but yeah, I feel like they've got such good spinners and they've bowled really well through the middle I feel like the first sniff I got, I had to sort of take that chance.
[Reporter:]
Phil, could you tell us a bit about the work you've done with Pollard on how to approach a run chase?
[Phil Salt:]
Yeah, so that's probably - Pollard's brought a lot to the group but I'd say that's the most valuable thing I've taken so far is constructing that run chase. We've spoken a lot about taking eights from one side to take twelves from the other and that's 200. So, it's really simple, it sounds so simple to say it but putting that into action there wasn't really a point in time out there I knew I was I slowed down I knew I hadn't got much strike but I knew that If I just get through that period, then we're going to be in a good position and I can have a good dip, a good calculated risk at the seamers.
[Reporter:]
What was going on with Puran?
[Phil Salt:]
Not much, he just kept talking as Motie was running in. I'm not sure if it was some sort of mind game, but he was doing it very well. I just asked him to stop, nothing big at all.
[Reporter:]
And just sort of more generally, is that an innings you could see yourself having played a few years ago, because it felt like relatively recent for you to sort of have that approach of sucking it up through the middle and taking your medicine?
[Phil Salt:]
Yeah, it's probably one of those things that the more you play, the more you feel secure in yourself and your game. It's probably one of those things that you feel more confident to do. I feel like if you're new to the side, you're thinking, oh, what if I get out now? I don't want to get out now. But I feel once you're a little bit more settled, you can sort of play that role and sort of take the onus on your own a little bit more.
[Reporter:]
Well played, but it was a brilliant performance in the field as well, wasn't it? I just wondered if you could talk us through those overs towards the end, was it 16-17, where Joffra and Rash conceded four and three or whatever it was. It felt like a bit of a turning point in the game.
[Phil Salt:]
Yeah, out on the boundary it did. That breeze, although it didn't feel a lot in the middle when I was out on the big edge, whenever the ball went up, the wind just kept pushing it and I knew that at any point if they started getting a couple towards my side then we could be chasing possibly 200. So, I think from Joffra and Rash that's really experienced, skilled bit of reading the game and then the execution.
[Reporter:]
You probably would have settled for 180 at the start though wouldn't you I mean that's 218 the other day the score here what would you think might have been par?
[Phil Salt:]
No, I think we bowled really well I think we bowled really well coming here for the first time. I think we would have taken 180 definitely. We had some really good plans and we kept a few of their main guys quiet, which was pleasing from our point of view. But I feel like - had we missed a little bit more, we could have been chasing maybe 200-plus. I think it was a great effort with the ball.
[Reporter:]
When you won the World Cup in Australia 2022, you had a bit of a stop-start start, similarly the defeat against Ireland, the win against Australia, and then got on a roll. Does this feel similar in any way yet?
[Phil Salt:]
I don't know if you can compare the two but it's definitely the first step in in that direction. I've already said in tournament play you need a bit of luck at the right time and you need to build your momentum and confidence and I feel like that's the first step in the right direction.
[Reporter:]
Does this in any way feel like you've put to bed the troubles, I know you didn't play in India, but as a team, as a white ball outfit, it's like a statement victory that puts to bed all that that came last year?
[Phil Salt:]
I don't know really, just from my point of view, I'm just turning up playing cricket, I'm not thinking about that sort of stuff, it's gone. I don't know, my head's not there, my head's very much in the present and now and this World Cup.
[Reporter:]
I was going to ask something similar, but on Saturday, if the weather had not gone your way and if Australia hadn't got that run chase over the line, things could have been very different in this tournament. You kind of got through now and won the game in that sort of fashion. What does that do for you guys as a group looking ahead to the rest of the tournament?
[Phil Salt:]
I think firstly it's a bit of confidence - you're going to get bored of me saying confidence and momentum, but it's a bit of confidence playing on this ground, knowing the conditions, knowing the dimensions, the wind, everything like that. And, it's just, I must be so boring here, but it's just the first step in the right direction. Getting that momentum, that's how I see tournament cricket. The good sides that I've played in have all sort of come to the peak and at the right time.
what a performance
absolute Sunday league club fare.
