October 16, 2024 • 8 mins
Former Blackcap Coach Warren Lees joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to discuss why India are so dominant at home during test series.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncy Waldegrave
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And as a warm welcome on Sports Talk to format
New Zealand player form of New Zealand coach Warren Lees.
As we look at the difficulty of beating India in
the sub continent, it's not on impossible of recent times.
I suppose that goes with Pakistan, maybe even Sri Lanka,
possibly Afghanistan, but really, Warrent, it's all about beating the
(00:34):
Indians at home. This is impossible. Is it not welcome?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Ever? Impossible? You can't say that, but you can latively
say that we're not going to be the confident team
out of it too. We're not going to be paying
mo money at the tav where we really have got
it back to the wall, especially after the last game,
two games in Tri Lanka, the injuries we've had, and
also just the fact that we're playing against India and
(01:01):
India and I think there's something that a lot of
the players are going to have to change the at tactics.
From what we've seen in the last few weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Have they got the ability to do that? Based on
what you've seen, do you think they've actually got the
Wherewithallham and the captaincy I suppose more is the point
now that Lathan's in there and the coaching staff to
radically change what they're doing to try and tip India.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Frankly, I was pretty disappointed. And the way they played
the games in Trianca. I know we it was too
n ill and we last and we came home town
between our legs. But the way we played Test match
cricket was like taking a twenty twenty game out into
the middle and saying, let's just hit as far as
we can and see what happened. Tess created is completely
different and the players don't play a lot of it now,
(01:45):
and they've also that their money comes from other sources
than Tess cricket, so they've got to turn their whole
thinking around and think time they've got a bat ball
by ball, runs don't really are accumulated in India, and
therefore you don't smash the ball to the boundary very often.
(02:05):
All those things would have been less than they learned.
And let's you see in the next five days where
they can carry some of those things out. There'll be
one or two players really hurting about the way they
played we've learned a lesson, but I don't know where
they can actually carry it out because we can't get
away from the set. We're playing against world champions. We're
playing against the team that's confident. They nearly always went
(02:28):
at home, and we've got all the other things against
us because we're the visiting side.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Back in the old days, Warren Lees, touring India was
more than difficult, and there was a lot of reasons
behind that. There was the conditions that players weren't used to,
as far as the heat and the dust balls they
played in. There was the food that was served up
to them, which really didn't agree with a lot of people.
The accommodation maybe wasn't up to scratch. But in this
(02:57):
day and age, the players spend a lot of time
over there playing in the IPL, the nutrition in the
food is a very different kettle of fish. The accommodation
and the like is of top class. Do you think,
though the historic nature of touring India, there's still a
hangover there with touring teams. They feel like they're under
the pump, even though intentionally they're actually not as bad
(03:21):
as they used to be.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
No, there's certainly things have certainly improved. I mean you
did right. The players play all around the world now,
they play in different T twenty competitions. They travel it
away from home a lot, so things like food, homesickness,
the tiredness. Twenty twenty isn't taking a lot out of them,
(03:44):
by the way, all those things are completely different. And
the conditions you're playing. It's hot. We know that the
pitchers are normally dry and dusty. Especially when you're talking
about Test cricket. It's going to spin, the ball won't
bounce consistently. But on top of that, you've got to
realize that it's the team we're playing against. The two
(04:06):
teams of eleven players play against each other, one coming
in very very confident looking at a New Zealand team
that have been losing recently, as I say, losing players
as well, and the other team coming from a Sri
Lankan beating and playing against some of the best, very
best players in the world. And it's easy for the
(04:29):
coach to say, look, this is the way we want
to play it. Does everyone agree? And everyone not in
the dressing room and put your hand up if you
think we've got a chance. All the hands go up
but actually when you go out in the middle, it's
a completely different feeling for a lot of players. Collectively, yeah,
rah rah, we get we're going to really take it
to India, but individually, inside, I don't know that many
(04:52):
of these players actually believe that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Warren Lee's joins us here on sports Talk. A lot
of things have to go your way in order to
beat India in a Test series in their backyard. This
we know, but let's face it, really, in all honesty,
this is a very good cricket team India. And regardless
of the heat, all the conditions, all are the so
(05:14):
called doctor pictures or whatever you want, it's a very
good cricket team, and you focus on that's that's half
the journey, surely.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah. And sometimes when you look back, if you if
you finished a career in the game, you look back
and sometimes it's not the wins and the losses. Sometimes
it's playing really well when everything's against you, and you
look back and say, well, we didn't quite win the game,
but by god, we gave them a fright. And they
were so full of stars, and we were desperately trying
(05:45):
to find players because of late injuries and people flying
in late and people even having to play under duress
because they've they're out of form and they're slightly jured.
Sometimes you can look back and get pleasure out of
really taking it to the right to the down end
of the game. And I think that's an ad tune
(06:06):
that it's hard to actually explain that the goose hitger,
that John Wright, the fighters who used to fight and
desperately go out there. We need players to be doing that,
and unfortunately some of our players at the top of
the order, when you think of you know, Givin Conway
(06:27):
badly out of touch, Tom Lathon would really be well
suited to playing these conditions because they're great players with bowlers.
But we've got players who haven't scored runs recently and
don't got to re establish their attitude to the game.
We accepted in India a good side. Of course we
are and that's what that's why it's called to test.
It would be called something else. It was an easy
(06:49):
game to play, but it's called a test because you're
tested against the other team and that's determined the determination
that all our players have got to actually work out
their game plan so keeps hitting the sexes and the
flashy fours and getting a quick thirty. A quick thirty
is nothing when you're playing in India against India, and
(07:11):
that's something they've just got to quietly put it aside
and say this is my day. Someone will do that.
Someone on this team will surprise everyone in the next
five days.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Warren Lee is the odds are packed against any team
playing away from home because the home team controls the conditions.
That's a nature of Test cricket. That's what makes it
so appealing. Surely touring India, playing India in their conditions,
and even when other teams come and play us in
our conditions, the victory is so much sweeter if you
(07:43):
get it done. A Test is a test, dead right.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
And the pitch we know what the pitches are like historically,
no matter who goes there, whether it be the best
teams in the world or you know, the England, the Australias,
the South Africans, the New Zealanders, it's the same for
every team. And to turn out and say well it's
foreign and when it turned more than we thought and
it was a mind field to bat on and they
(08:08):
prepared their own pictures is just self made excuses really,
because we know what it's like. And we do play
all around the world now and we know it's going
to be hot because it's so different to India coming
to New Zealand for a tour, and historically New Zealand
Crett used to seeing them straight to cars book where
it's as cold as the basement reserve, where with green
(08:34):
years ago and the ball would seem around. I mean,
every country is doing it, it's just that some countries
have got conditions more conducive to this sort of players.
They've got so the excuses about the pitch don't and
we're not used to it. They don't hold water anymore.
You've just got to go and overcome that, and that's
why it's called, as I say, it's called a test match.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
They'd be from seven pm weekdays well follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncy Waldegrave
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And as a warm welcome on Sports Talk to format
New Zealand player form of New Zealand coach Warren Lees.
As we look at the difficulty of beating India in
the sub continent, it's not on impossible of recent times.
I suppose that goes with Pakistan, maybe even Sri Lanka,
possibly Afghanistan, but really, Warrent, it's all about beating the
(00:34):
Indians at home. This is impossible. Is it not welcome?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Ever? Impossible? You can't say that, but you can latively
say that we're not going to be the confident team
out of it too. We're not going to be paying
mo money at the tav where we really have got
it back to the wall, especially after the last game,
two games in Tri Lanka, the injuries we've had, and
also just the fact that we're playing against India and
(01:01):
India and I think there's something that a lot of
the players are going to have to change the at tactics.
From what we've seen in the last few weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Have they got the ability to do that? Based on
what you've seen, do you think they've actually got the
Wherewithallham and the captaincy I suppose more is the point
now that Lathan's in there and the coaching staff to
radically change what they're doing to try and tip India.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Frankly, I was pretty disappointed. And the way they played
the games in Trianca. I know we it was too
n ill and we last and we came home town
between our legs. But the way we played Test match
cricket was like taking a twenty twenty game out into
the middle and saying, let's just hit as far as
we can and see what happened. Tess created is completely
different and the players don't play a lot of it now,
(01:45):
and they've also that their money comes from other sources
than Tess cricket, so they've got to turn their whole
thinking around and think time they've got a bat ball
by ball, runs don't really are accumulated in India, and
therefore you don't smash the ball to the boundary very often.
(02:05):
All those things would have been less than they learned.
And let's you see in the next five days where
they can carry some of those things out. There'll be
one or two players really hurting about the way they
played we've learned a lesson, but I don't know where
they can actually carry it out because we can't get
away from the set. We're playing against world champions. We're
playing against the team that's confident. They nearly always went
(02:28):
at home, and we've got all the other things against
us because we're the visiting side.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Back in the old days, Warren Lees, touring India was
more than difficult, and there was a lot of reasons
behind that. There was the conditions that players weren't used to,
as far as the heat and the dust balls they
played in. There was the food that was served up
to them, which really didn't agree with a lot of people.
The accommodation maybe wasn't up to scratch. But in this
(02:57):
day and age, the players spend a lot of time
over there playing in the IPL, the nutrition in the
food is a very different kettle of fish. The accommodation
and the like is of top class. Do you think,
though the historic nature of touring India, there's still a
hangover there with touring teams. They feel like they're under
the pump, even though intentionally they're actually not as bad
(03:21):
as they used to be.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
No, there's certainly things have certainly improved. I mean you
did right. The players play all around the world now,
they play in different T twenty competitions. They travel it
away from home a lot, so things like food, homesickness,
the tiredness. Twenty twenty isn't taking a lot out of them,
(03:44):
by the way, all those things are completely different. And
the conditions you're playing. It's hot. We know that the
pitchers are normally dry and dusty. Especially when you're talking
about Test cricket. It's going to spin, the ball won't
bounce consistently. But on top of that, you've got to
realize that it's the team we're playing against. The two
(04:06):
teams of eleven players play against each other, one coming
in very very confident looking at a New Zealand team
that have been losing recently, as I say, losing players
as well, and the other team coming from a Sri
Lankan beating and playing against some of the best, very
best players in the world. And it's easy for the
(04:29):
coach to say, look, this is the way we want
to play it. Does everyone agree? And everyone not in
the dressing room and put your hand up if you
think we've got a chance. All the hands go up
but actually when you go out in the middle, it's
a completely different feeling for a lot of players. Collectively, yeah,
rah rah, we get we're going to really take it
to India, but individually, inside, I don't know that many
(04:52):
of these players actually believe that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Warren Lee's joins us here on sports Talk. A lot
of things have to go your way in order to
beat India in a Test series in their backyard. This
we know, but let's face it, really, in all honesty,
this is a very good cricket team India. And regardless
of the heat, all the conditions, all are the so
(05:14):
called doctor pictures or whatever you want, it's a very
good cricket team, and you focus on that's that's half
the journey, surely.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah. And sometimes when you look back, if you if
you finished a career in the game, you look back
and sometimes it's not the wins and the losses. Sometimes
it's playing really well when everything's against you, and you
look back and say, well, we didn't quite win the game,
but by god, we gave them a fright. And they
were so full of stars, and we were desperately trying
(05:45):
to find players because of late injuries and people flying
in late and people even having to play under duress
because they've they're out of form and they're slightly jured.
Sometimes you can look back and get pleasure out of
really taking it to the right to the down end
of the game. And I think that's an ad tune
(06:06):
that it's hard to actually explain that the goose hitger,
that John Wright, the fighters who used to fight and
desperately go out there. We need players to be doing that,
and unfortunately some of our players at the top of
the order, when you think of you know, Givin Conway
(06:27):
badly out of touch, Tom Lathon would really be well
suited to playing these conditions because they're great players with bowlers.
But we've got players who haven't scored runs recently and
don't got to re establish their attitude to the game.
We accepted in India a good side. Of course we
are and that's what that's why it's called to test.
It would be called something else. It was an easy
(06:49):
game to play, but it's called a test because you're
tested against the other team and that's determined the determination
that all our players have got to actually work out
their game plan so keeps hitting the sexes and the
flashy fours and getting a quick thirty. A quick thirty
is nothing when you're playing in India against India, and
(07:11):
that's something they've just got to quietly put it aside
and say this is my day. Someone will do that.
Someone on this team will surprise everyone in the next
five days.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Warren Lee is the odds are packed against any team
playing away from home because the home team controls the conditions.
That's a nature of Test cricket. That's what makes it
so appealing. Surely touring India, playing India in their conditions,
and even when other teams come and play us in
our conditions, the victory is so much sweeter if you
(07:43):
get it done. A Test is a test, dead right.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
And the pitch we know what the pitches are like historically,
no matter who goes there, whether it be the best
teams in the world or you know, the England, the Australias,
the South Africans, the New Zealanders, it's the same for
every team. And to turn out and say well it's
foreign and when it turned more than we thought and
it was a mind field to bat on and they
(08:08):
prepared their own pictures is just self made excuses really,
because we know what it's like. And we do play
all around the world now and we know it's going
to be hot because it's so different to India coming
to New Zealand for a tour, and historically New Zealand
Crett used to seeing them straight to cars book where
it's as cold as the basement reserve, where with green
(08:34):
years ago and the ball would seem around. I mean,
every country is doing it, it's just that some countries
have got conditions more conducive to this sort of players.
They've got so the excuses about the pitch don't and
we're not used to it. They don't hold water anymore.
You've just got to go and overcome that, and that's
why it's called, as I say, it's called a test match.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
They'd be from seven pm weekdays well follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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