We wanted to show that West Indies are not pushovers, says Andre Russell

Andre Russell was speaking to the media after his performance with bat and ball helped West Indies in their 150-run win over Pakistan. You can also listen to the full press conference in the audio widget above.

Q. Andre, you probably haven’t had a lot of time to interact with the team, but what’s the mood like now, especially considering the last loss to Ireland? ANDRE RUSSELL: It’s very good. Everyone is laughing, happy. It’s just always a fun dressing room, and I think from the last game things didn’t go well for us, and we just turned up today and wanted to show the world that we are not just a pushover. We are always a good team and we can fight. It happened today, so it was a very good performance. Q. You must be pretty pleased with your own performance too? You must be pleased with your own showing with the bat and the ball, three wickets and the quick fire 40 odd? ANDRE RUSSELL: Yeah, it’s very big to contribute to the team and win the Man of the Match award. But at the end of the day, the other contributions from the other guys, I think you know from the way we batted we didn’t get the start that we wanted, but the guys in the middle, they kept it together and they set the innings perfectly for me to come and do my thing. It just goes to show that we’re a good team and playing as a team you’re always going to get the job done once everyone contributes. [caption id=“attachment_2113681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Russell exults after a wicket. AFP[/caption] Q. Andre, with this victory now and moving forward with the West Indies team in the doldrums, with the victory now the momentum is now with you. You still have two other teams that you might like to pushover, Zimbabwe and United Arab Emirates and South Africa. They are big ones. What is the mindset like now moving forward? ANDRE RUSSELL: I think we learned a lot from the loss against Ireland. It’s not that we went into the game thinking about Ireland is an easy team. There is no easy team in the World Cup. It just goes to show on the day we have to turn up. It doesn’t matter which team we play against, we’re going to have to play our A game. It’s all good cricket from now on. It’s the momentum, and once we keep doing what we can do, I think we’re going to go all the way. Q. The chief of selectors Clive Lloyd is here, and he’s won two World Cups. What’s been his message to you all? ANDRE RUSSELL: I think he would want us to experience that feeling of lifting the cup. You know, it surely is a good feeling. I’ve never been a part of winning this World Cup, but from T20 World Cup is really a good feeling. So I think if we can do it with the team that we have, we can do it. So we’ll just have to buckle ourselves and get the job done on the day. Q. Andre, you tend to be kind of an impact player. Do you particularly like coming in at that position? Do you like coming in at that position? You only came in today with 2 overs and 5 balls left. Do you like coming in at that position or do you like batting longer periods of time? ANDRE RUSSELL: That’s a good question. I think it all has to do with the situation. I can bat if 20 overs still left to go. But I think I really enjoy it when 10 overs, 5 overs left, I can just come and play my natural game. It’s not like I have to be cagey especially being over 250 runs or 140 and 5, 6 overs to go. I think I can just come and play my natural game from there. Q. There’s been obviously lots of talk about Chris Gayle. Is this a good game for you guys? Chris didn’t have a great game and you guys were still very, very dominant. A good way to show the world that we’ve got a good team, not just one or two good players? ANDRE RUSSELL: Of course. I think from the warm-up games Chris has been struggling, and you know, we’re still scoring 300 runs and he’s not performing. Even Marlon Samuels who is one of our main batters as well, so I just think when these guys peak at the right time, West Indies has the ability to score over 350. I think once the way they keep motivating the team and the team spirit is very good. He’s not moody. Chris is just an amazing guy that you share the changing room with. Even he’s not scoring and he’s not miserable, he’s not grumpy. He’s happy, he’s laughing, and he’s cheering everyone on the field, and that’s what we want from a big guy like him, so it’s very good. Q. You also mentioned that this was good to send the world a message how well the Westerners can play. Was it important for yourselves as well after the loss to get that confidence back up or did that stay high? ANDRE RUSSELL: Yeah, it’s a very good feeling winning a game after losing to Ireland, in that manner. As I said before, it just goes to show that West Indies can dominate and we are here to compete. A lot of talks have been going around, but we are not paying those any attention. We just have to do what we have to do and get the job done on the field. Q. Can you describe for us the initial spell with those positive feelings when those many wickets fell so early in the Pakistan innings and Taylor was on fire? Could you put things into perspective in that initial phase? ANDRE RUSSELL: Yeah, I think as any bowling team whether you make 150 or you make over 300 runs, I think that’s the perfect start any team would want in cricket. That start just put us on the front foot even though we have the confidence that we have over 300 runs on the board. But in One Day cricket you can’t take anything for granted. The Pakistan lineup is a very long one. They have a very good batting unit. So I think putting them on the back foot from the first over we got to the wicket and then Jason got the third one early up as well. I think that really kind of cramped them. We didn’t really let loose. We kept it tight and kept building pressure and stuff like that. So it was a very good feeling and the celebration, and it’s good to be a part of. Q. Do you think Pakistani Captain Misbah Ul-Haq made the mistake, he won the toss and elected to feed first? ANDRE RUSSELL: I can’t comment much on that because it’s just an option, where if we won the toss and we bowl first maybe we would get them out early as well or maybe they would get 300-plus. So the ball is round, and once you get the ball in right there, batsmen make the mistake, anything can happen. Q. Were you a bit surprised that the ball was supposed to do a lot more in the morning when you guys – when Pakistan were bowling. The first few overs there was supposed to be more bounce and seam movement, but you guys seemed to have taken more advantage of the pitch bowling second. ANDRE RUSSELL: Yeah, you have a point there. With the overcast conditions I think the ball was going to do a bit more in the morning. But I think Chris and Smithy, I think they did well to see off the new ball and try to bat as many overs as possible. So it was just that’s how the game goes, as I said before. The ball is round. Once you don’t get it in the right areas and we get it in the right areas, batsmen makes the mistake, it’s going to look on the brighter side of the team that gets it in the right area.