Kyle Mills: Some wisdom for the bowlers

Kyle Mills shares his wisdom with fellow Black Caps seamer Tim Southee. Photo / Alan Gibson

Opinion

This World Cup hasn't played out in the way I had hoped on a personal level but it doesn't mean I don't have a role to play.

I'm desperate to play in what will be my last World Cup and have to be ready in case I get a chance. I want to play my part and, as a senior player, have had a number of one-on-one chats with bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

One of the big things I have been emphasising is not trying to find the miracle ball every delivery. Tim and Trent have been bowling brilliantly throughout the tournament - swinging the ball and picking up wickets.

When wickets come, you just want more, and sometimes you try too hard to make things happen. It's easy to say you should stick to your processes but much harder to achieve.

Sometimes the wickets don't come. Tim hasn't taken any in the past two games but has bowled really well and built pressure for the guy at the other end.

There's a fine line when it comes to talking to teammates, because you don't want to say too much that you interfere.

Sometimes the best place to have these chats is out for dinner or over a coffee. Often we try not to talk about cricket at all but at other occasions we conjure up plans about how to bowl at a particular player or what fields to set that often work out on the field. One thing that is apparent is how well we all get on. It obviously helps when you are winning but the banter is constantly flying around and no one takes it personally.

We're not given jobs but Trent has found himself in charge of music in the changing sheds and on the bus and Dan Vettori has been North Island golf manager and Nathan McCullum South Island golf manager.

We have been good at not getting ahead of ourselves but everyone is well aware of how important today's game is.

It's been awesome to see how in-tune Kiwis have been with this World Cup.

I had a sense going into this World Cup we had the potential to do well but often people are cricketed out by this stage. Not this year. The team want to do everyone proud and not let people down. We want to do well for the country. We want to win.