Kane Williamson admits his New Zealand side probably need to hit the reset button if they are to have any chance of lifting this ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 trophy. The Black Caps have slumped to three defeats on the spin, the last of them against England in Durham on Wednesday, to limp into the final four.
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It will take an extraordinary Pakistan win over Bangladesh at Lord’s to overturn the run rate deficit and knock the Black Caps out of the semis. But regardless, Williamson knows his side have to try and forget what has come before if they are to have a chance.
“In some ways a (reset) happens on its own. If you are in a knockout stage or a semi-final, anything can happen on the day," he said.
“And we know from our perspective we haven’t put out our best performance yet and we know when we do that gives us our best chance of beating anybody.
“It is important to have a couple of days away, we have a bit of a break. if we are fortunate enough to be in the semi-final, we have a break and need guys to come together to go out and have that “freshness to play with the freedom that allows us to play our best cricket.
“It does start fresh after the round robin.”
The batsmen failed to fire yet again in Durham in the 119-run defeat, only Tom Latham passed 50 for the Black Caps.
Williamson’s own form has been impressive all tournament though, and the skipper wants the likes of Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill to come good.
“There are important learnings to take note of on some difficult surfaces. We need to try and better for having had those experiences,” he added.
“It would be nice to be more successful in those scenarios.
"I don’t want to take anything away from England, they outplayed us regardless of conditions and deserved their win.
“We have to try and take smarter options. We need to take partnerships longer and deeper.”
And while Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy were the key architects of England’s innings, it was the pace of Jofra Archer who is the second top wicket-taker in this tournament that really caught Williamson’s eye.
“He is a very nice bowler, isn’t he? He’s easy on the eye when you are at the other end. He ambles into the crease and then he has a really nice snap of the write and generates a really good pace.
“I have played against him in other competitions and he has obviously been an extremely effective and world-class performer. Without doubt a great addition to any team and especially England.” (Inputs from ICC)
