'We are growing well as a team'

Left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan believes New Zealand benefited from watching Australia bowl first during their eight-run victory in the World Cup T20 at the HPCA stadium.

The 29-year-old, who returned with the best figures of 3/17 from his three overs, also complimented the spinners for their performance in the middle overs.

“I think we are just growing as a team. Our culture is going to new levels. We are confident in each other, we are confident of our own game. We have got guys like Mitch Santner and Ish Sodhi. I guess today we saw how it was easier for us to score with the new ball, and once the field went out it was really hard to time. So we got the benefit of watching how Australia bowled on that wicket. Thankfully we executed well and the guys fielded really well as well,” McClenaghan told reporters.

 “We have got a well-rounded squad. It was a fast outfield so you accept a few to go through the field or over the field. Uzzie got off to a fantastic start and looked unstoppable. When the field goes out you can build up dots, you can build pressure, and I thought our spinners did really well in the middle to do that.”

Australian captain Steven Smith admitted taking the pace-off made scoring difficult for them.

“It was the tactic adopted in the first innings, looked like when the bowlers bowled into the wicket and took some pace off the ball, it was hard to score. I was pleased with the way we pulled it back in the middle, I thought we bowled quite well. I think around 150-155 was probably par. But today I guess we just didn't bat well enough. After 7 overs up to 15, we kept losing wickets in clumps and we were not able to get any partnerships together,” he said.

“We are still confident. We have to turn it around pretty quickly. We have our next game in Bengaluru. I have confidence in the group that we can come out and do that.”