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Ahead of his side's ICC Cricket World Cup match against South Africa, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham on Tuesday praised the bowling skills of batter Glenn Phillips, who has taken some important wickets for Kiwis so far in the tournament.
New Zealand will take on South Africa in their World Cup encounter at Pune. New Zealand lost a high-scoring encounter to Australia by just five runs and with four wins, two losses and eight points sits at the third spot in the points table. SA last defeated Pakistan in a thriller and with five wins and a loss, sits at second position in the table with 10 points. In the pre-match press conference, Latham praised the bowling skills of Phillips, who is also a wicketkeeper. Latham said that Phillips has taken his opportunities really well. "Yeah, he has been fantastic for us. He has obviously had sort of limited opportunity with the ball compared to the other two guys. But he has an all-rounder for us who obviously has a lot of power with the bat, but also can bowl some handy overs. And it is nice having the option with the ball spinning the other way. And I think when he has bowled, he has obviously taken his opportunity really well," said Phillips. "I think you look back to the Australia game a couple of games ago where we were under a lot of pressure and for him to bowl 10 overs from one end and get three for 30 odd, I think it was, was obviously a fantastic effort on a wicket that was not necessarily offering a lot." "So, I guess it just shows he is a really hard worker, someone that has not been bowling off-spin for long. He's a keeper from growing up. So, I guess that just shows that the work that he has put in for him to get a few rewards throughout this tournament has been great and I am sure he will be looking forward to hopefully getting an opportunity again at some point with the ball and hopefully he can keep showing us the skills that he has got," he concluded. In six matches, Phillips has taken six wickets, with the best bowling figures of 3/37. On the run-chase of 389 that Kiwis almost pulled off against Australia, Latham said that there are plenty of positives to take from the match. He expressed how good it was that Kiwis was able to bounce back despite being under pressure and were in a position to chase almost 400 runs. "Reflecting on what was an amazing game of cricket, obviously disappointing to come out on the wrong side of it. But I think if you look at the game as a whole, we did a lot of good things really well. We were obviously put under pressure, or a lot of pressure at the start, the way Australia came out to bat but I think the way we were able to pull ourselves back into the game and we obviously understood pretty quickly that it was a pretty decent surface and you know it is going to be a high par score," said Latham. "They probably got a little bit more than what we wanted towards the back end but I think we obviously put ourselves in a position towards the end of the game to win the game which is I guess what you want in these World Cup games is to put yourself in a position where you can win and when you are chasing something like 400, you kind of need everything to go well." Latham feels that from a batting point of view, his team did a fantastic job and from a bowling point of view, they reflected on their wrongdoings. "From a batting point of view, I thought we did a fantastic job. We were one shot away from being on the other side. A lot of positives. We obviously reflected from a bowling point of view as well and hopefully, we can put those learnings into practice tomorrow," said the skipper. Latham recognised the need to be a little more proactive as a bowling and fielding side. "I think it is just recognising situations as best you can and trying to be proactive as much as we can as well from a bowling point of view and I guess from a field placement point of view as well. Like every team we do our scouting, trying to find weaknesses from a batting point of view from South Africa, but as you said they're a team that is running pretty hot at the moment," said Phillips. "They have got some guys in form from a batting point of view. So again, it is going to be another great challenge. And we have come to a different venue and we have got to adapt as quick as we can to this ground here in Pune," he concluded. On the all-rounder, James Neesham presenting a selection headache with his half-century against Australia in the absence of Mark Chapman, Latham said, "I think from a selection point of view, we have obviously just arrived here. We have got a few guys to, I guess, to get through a few fitness tests and I guess once we train, we will have a clearer idea of what the 11 looks like - so fingers crossed all those guys can get through a bit of work today at training and be ready to go tomorrow." New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young. South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams. (ANI)
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