We threw everything at Afghanistan and still failed, says Scotland skipper Mommsen

Scotland skipper Preston Mommsen was speaking with the media after Scotland’s loss against Afghanistan. You can also listen to the full press conference in the audio widget above. Q. That’s got to really sting, I guess? PRESTON MOMMSEN: Yeah, it’s not a nice one for any of us. Obviously, to get into that position and to get out of that position, very disappointed. Q. You did so much right. I mean, there is so much to take pride from. Is that any consolation right now? PRESTON MOMMSEN: To be honest, I look back on that game, and we didn’t play our best cricket, but it’s still a game that we should have won. Both with the bat and with the ball we got into winning positions, and regrettably now the first innings or the second innings we could have the killer punch, which is regrettable. [caption id=“attachment_2123481” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Scotland in action during the match against Afghanistan. AFP[/caption] Q. Is it a lack of composure, a lack of experience maybe that’s inhibiting you a wee bit? PRESTON MOMMSEN: I’m not sure exactly. Obviously experience is a huge thing, especially at a world tournament, a World Cup. We still are new boys in terms of that, and maybe that showed today. However in those last 20, 30 overs, we were trying everything, throwing everything at them to try to get 8, 9, 10, and unfortunately today we just couldn’t. Q. I guess you’ll be pleased for them in a way? PRESTON MOMMSEN: Pleased for them? Yes, of course. Their first World Cup victory as well, so there was a lot to play for for them. We have huge amounts of respect for the Afghanistan national team and the pride they have and the way they go about their business and the journey that they’ve gone on and are still going on. So, yeah, it is. We do respect what they do. Q. In both games against England as well, some of the batsmen have been some slightly soft dismissals haven’t there? Is that how you’d see it as well, and why do you think that is? PRESTON MOMMSEN: Definitely. That was a disappointing thing about that first half today. We managed to gain quite a bit of control through the middle there when we got to I think it was 100 for 3 or something like that. Then as you say through soft dismissals just handing it back to them, opening the door for them, whereas we had the opportunity to really nail it in and get a very good first inning score on a wicket that is offering a bit to the bowlers. So, yeah, that is disappointing. That is something that we need to look at as a batting group. Guys are getting in, doing all the hard work, and then not going on to make it count. Going on to win games. Q. Preston, did you ever think though that 210 was ever going to be a defendable total? Was that the attitude going into the innings? PRESTON MOMMSEN: Yeah, definitely. We know the type of cricket that they play. The type of cricket that their batters play particularly. We know that if we stay patient they offer opportunities and that showed today to have them 7 down for 100, I think it was. We knew the whole time we were in that game. As I said, we threw everything at them to try to get those three wickets and we just couldn’t. It was obviously credit as well to the way Shenwari played there. He had a serious knock individually he’s gotten them over the line. Q. Preston, on your batting, I think six players are between 23 and 31. What do you sort of put that down to? PRESTON MOMMSEN: As I said, batters getting in, do doing the hard work, and there was an element of soft dismissals there. An element today as well though that there were some good balls that got batters out as well. The wicket was doing something. It was a good toss to win. But six guys getting in and no one getting past 50, that’s not something that we’re proud of. Q. Just in the toss, would you have bowled if you had won the toss? PRESTON MOMMSEN: Yeah, we would have bowled. I think it’s pretty clear from all the games that have gone on here that it is a nice toss to win. That ball definitely does do a little bit early on. It generally does things throughout the innings and throughout the day. But, yeah, we didn’t win the toss. We had the chance to take control in that first half. At I think 100 for 3 we had a huge opportunity, but we didn’t take it. Q. With teams that are not used to winning, sometimes getting into positions where you can see a victory does strange things. At 97 for 7, were you perhaps thinking about the victory before you actually got there? PRESTON MOMMSEN: No, I don’t think we were ever thinking about the victory. We knew there was a job to do, and it was one wicket at a time. It was about managing the innings, but somehow Shenwari managed to manage things better than us. He just kept on top, and kept up with the run rate as that was climbing as well. He managed to find a way to keep intact there, so it was a brilliant innings by him. Take nothing away from him. Same time towards the back end there we had some definite opportunities. Some run outs, a couple of chances that should have been taken, and at the end of the day, that’s probably cost us. Q. Preston, Richie Berrington bowled six very good overs, took 3 for 18. In hindsight, do you see that as a big turning point, taking him off? PRESTON MOMMSEN: You could look at it at that stage, yeah. But I’ve brought on a strike bowler to replace him to try to get through eight, nine, and ten. Sometimes you make these decisions and they don’t quite work, sometimes they do. Unfortunately, it didn’t work today. Richie could have bowled the next over and gone for 15. I guess we’ll never know. Yes, potentially that’s an area of the game where things, momentum changed, whatever you want to call it. But, yeah, that decision didn’t work for me today.