Williamson promises fearless, smart cricket

New Zealand players

It was all systems go for New Zealand and skipper Kane Williamson promised fearless yet smart cricket from his men as they brace up to tackle England in the first of the semifinal of the World Twenty20 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium here in New Delhi on the morrow.
The Black Caps have tossed the formbook out the window and here they are, the only unbeaten side, just within sniffing distance of that big prize.
The Kiwis altered the script as far as the Indian fans were concerned by besting the Men in Blue in their opener in Nagpur. They then went on to defeat trans-Tasmanian rivals Australia before accounting for Pakistan as well Bangladesh.
They have summed up the conditions perfectly, and although there could be massive improvements on the batting front, their bowlers, especially the spinners have come to the fore.
"It is a big and exciting match next up but our feet are firmly on the ground and we going to hit the ground running and perform our plans as best as we possibly can," Williamson said at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
And Williamson said that they were not looking too far ahead and were taking it one small step at a time. He said the focus was to keep improving with each and every game.
"From our perspective, we just want to keep improving as a unit. We are not looking too far down the track, of changing personalities or looking to make drastic changes. We just want to keep taking small steps forward as a team and I hope that brings a consistent improvement. You've got to respect the game. T20 is a more fickle than any format and you can win sometimes and you can lose sometimes. But they key is to go into the game and play fearless cricket and play smart cricket," he added.
Williamson and the coaching staff have believed in picking a side best suited to the conditions and that has served them well so far.
 "We simply tried to pick horses for courses, our best side on the conditions against the opposition at any given time. That certainly won't change in terms of philosophy," he said.
That has meant pacers Tim Southee and Trent Boult sitting out to accommodate three spinners in the young and exciting Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and Nathan McCullum.
And although Williamson said that they hadn't yet taken a call on their side to face to England, it is more than likely that Santner, Sodhi and McCullum will again play a big part against an England side, who already have had a feel of the Feroz Shah Kotla, having played two games here already.
"England have been fortunate to play on these conditions a couple of times but I think in Twenty20 cricket, anything can happen," reckoned Williamson.
And while England have had to only shuttle between Mumbai and Delhi for their games, the Black Caps have been living out of a suitcase, so to speak. They have played at four different venues during the group stages - Nagpur, Dharamsala, Mohali and Kolkata. New Delhi will be their fifth venue.
And Williamson said he and his men have been able to savour the Indian experience more than the other teams.
"We've been out to see more of India than most opposition sides. The guys braced the flights and enjoyed the variety of hotels," he said.
james@khaleejtimes.com