Defending champions and title favorites Australia open their campaign against Sri Lanka on Saturday. Meanwhile, South Africa beat West Indies by 10 wickets in Friday’s early game to join Bangladesh at the top of Group B, where they play England on Saturday.
“It will be a game we want to forget because it is the World Cup today,” Rodriguez said. “We have to keep moving forward and pick ourselves up. We can’t stay stuck in this game. We have to pick ourselves up and I think that shows the character of this team.
“We know that every game here is very important for us. We know that, but at the same time we are going to take it one game at a time and make sure we stick to our process and do a good job. I think we can do that, we are playing our best cricket and we can win the game.”
The 2023 T20 World Cup ended as quickly as it began with heavy losses to Australia and South Africa, quite a turnaround for a team that had lost all eight of their matches, including five T20Is against England in June and July. .
But Rodriguez said New Zealand’s attack in the powerplay did not necessarily catch her team off guard.
“They came out with a lot of intent,” she said. “We created opportunities, but unfortunately we didn’t make the most of them. And the way we came back after the start… I mean, there aren’t a lot of positives from this game, but still, going forward we should have the following tournament. We need to take the right approach because it’s not over, we need to take some positives and take a lot of lessons from this game.
“It’s not the easiest conditions. It’s really hot here in Dubai. But I think we’ve had plenty of time to get used to the conditions, so we’re not making any excuses like it’s too hot or anything. We just have to do our job and play for the team. We have to win, so I think we’ve been very used to it since the first day we’ve been here, because we’ve all been in India.”
“We know how important Amelia Kerr’s wicket was. Yes, at that moment there was a feeling of, ‘Why isn’t it in our favor?'” Rodriguez said. “But at the same time, I think we did what we could. We had to talk to the referee and then accept the referee’s decision and move on. I think that’s what we did really well. And we got her out there in no time. So that helped us.”
