We are focused on our brand of cricket: Williamson

Ahead of the T20 World Cup semifinal against England on Wednesday, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson praised Eoin Morgan side's squad depth, who are still a strong side without opener Jason Roy and seamer Tymal Mills. Mills was side due to a thigh strain while Roy was ruled due to a calf strain he suffered during the Super 12s match against South Africa.

"They're both (Mills and Roy) big players for England. It's a real shame that they have suffered injuries in this competition. But I think one of the strengths as well of the England side is their depth that they've managed to produce over a period of time," Williamson said in the pre-match press conference. 

England maintained their tag of tournament favorites by winning four of their Super 12s matches and narrowly lost the final group match against South Africa.

"And having spent some time at the Birmingham Phoenix and being sort of a little bit involved in that 100-ball comp, you can tell that there's a huge amount of talent throughout. They're still very much a very strong side who have been playing some really good cricket.

The Black Caps' captain said that his team is focused on their style of cricket regardless of the playing XI England might field against them.

"Jason's a big player for England and has been playing really nicely and getting the team off to good starts along with Jos. But as I mentioned, the depth on the England side is one of their strengths and we'll try and plan accordingly to the best of our ability.

"But largely, we want to focus on the sort of cricket that we want to play as a group and keep developing on that as we've been doing throughout this tournament," he said.

Williamson suffered an elbow injury at the toe end of IPL 2021 while playing Sunrisers Hyderabad. He admitted that it has been an issue he is working closely with the team physio.

"That (elbow) has been a bit of a challenge for me personally. And the balance between the loading of the elbow and things like that to try and stay as fresh as possible for the game. So it's a bit of a delicate balance to get my head around. I certainly look forward to the day that it's gone and I don't have to worry too much about it. But as it stands, it's a topic of discussion and just trying to work closely with the physio to make sure in the games you're as fresh as possible," he said.

Williamson felt that the IPL experience has lent a lot of knowledge of the conditions in UAE to different teams, but viewed the World Cup as a different kind of experience.

"In the moment, you compete in different games and the margins are fine. And we know coming into this tournament that truly any team could beat anybody and we sort of saw that throughout the competition and there are some sides that perhaps were favourites coming into it. 

And we're fortunate on the day but I suppose that's tournament sport as well. And it made way for what has been and will continue to be a really action packed and exciting competition," he said.