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WELLINGTON: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson does not expect teams to blindly copy the template England provided after winning the T20 World Cup in Australia with their unbridled aggression.
An England side teeming with power-hitters and all-rounders suffered a shock defeat to Ireland in a rain-marred contest, but otherwise blew away oppositions en route to their second World T20 title.
They plundered runs in powerplays, barely relented in the middle overs and accelerated again in the death overs, maintaining the kind of tempo which their opponents could only dream of.
Williamson insisted teams would plot strategies according to their strength and weaknesses.
“The English team has a very strong side and they’re playing a strong brand of cricket, which is very aggressive,” the 32-year-old told Indian journalists in a virtual news conference on Tuesday.
“I think it suits the balance of their side.
“Every team is always trying to be nice and clear on the strengths in their team and play according to those and put out their best performances.” Many observers believe England have revolutionised how cricket’s shortest format is played, but Williamson, whose team lost to Pakistan in the semi-finals, was not so sure.
“They (teams) see the game evolving all the time. But you also see it kind of go in circles where it goes in one direction and then comes back to another.
“At the end of it, I think it’s just trying to understand what the best recipe is for the team you are in with the resources that you have.”
Williamson alluded to Ireland’s victory against England and the Netherlands’ win against South Africa to make his point that T20 cricket was ripe for such upsets.
“There are so many strong T20 sides, and we saw at this tournament more than any other that, on any day, anybody could beat one another.
“That almost happened here as well and we saw a number of upsets.
“It just shows that certainly in this format, and with the match-winners that are in every team, that it can happen.”
Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2022
