Cricket WorldCup ‘19: Breed doesn't matter in dog fight: Classic 'Kane Williamson' to British media
London, Jul 14: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was at his wittiest best when he said it is the fight that matters rather than "breed of the dog" as his side geared up to take on favourites England in the summit clash of the World Cup here Sunday.
Williamson's comments was in reference to the hostile British media's constant queries on how it feels to go into the finale as "underdogs".
The members of the 'Fleet Street' asked him same questions in various manners mostly pertaining to dealing with defeats and how he plans to do that.
"A lot of people say that on a number of occasions which is great and I think England rightly so deserve to be favourites," the Black Caps skipper said on the even of the match at the iconic Lord's.
"But whatever dog we are, it's just important that we focus on the cricket that we want to play. We have seen over the years that anybody can beat anybody regardless of the breed of dog," Williamson said with a killer smile.
The follow-up question was bit more offensive as a local reporter asked how would it feel to become party poopers, pre-empting that big party is on the cards.
"Party-poopers? You talking about dogs again, hey? (Smiling) Underdogs? Look, we are really looking forward to the occasion and, like I say, the end point and the result, there's a lot of time between now and that point," said Williamson in a more serious tone.
"You have to deal with a number of different things, whether it's different moments of pressure, whether it's different moments of momentum and we have to be prepared to deal with all of those again."
The next question was a bit weird as a British journalist asked whether he loves winning more or does he hate losing, Williamson curtly replied: "I prefer winning than losing (smiling). That is probably the best way to say it.
"Any experience that you have is an opportunity to learn and sometimes tough experiences, being on the wrong side of results, can sometimes slap you in the face and give you a glaring lesson and if you ignore that, I don't think that is a positive thing."
Williamson said New Zealand would look to put up a fighting performance to give them the best possible opportunity to come out on top of England.
"Whether having had experience in a final or not is a good thing. But at the same time as we know in this game nothing promises, so it does come down to putting a performance on the board that gives us the best opportunity to win," he said.
He further said for all those kids back in New Zealand, their performance on Sunday will epitomize the fighting qualities and all hard work that has gone in over the years.
"I guess anything's possible (smiling). I guess when you take yourself back to that point in time, it feels like a long way away and you make a few small steps forward and you work pretty hard together as a group and next thing you might find yourself here, Williamson said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
