Kane Williamson talks about the ‘uncontrollables’

New Zealand's defeat over England at World Cup 2019 after a tied super over it won in the boundary count which was tough for New Zealand.

Kane Williamson described the loss to England as "tough to swallow" for him and his players.

Mindful of the fact that staying neutral is of paramount importance, journalists aren’t the types that reveal much. But the mask slipped briefly at Lord’s on Sunday night when Kane Williamson concluded his post-final press-conference.

New Zealand had just lost the World Cup to England and the visitor’s skipper, put a lid on his grief, managed a few weak jokes and spoke at length about varying emotions and his team. Just as he walked away, the hall broke into spontaneous applause. It was a singular moment when the player in question and the critics at large found synergy through empathy. Excerpts.

Visceral sorrow

Obviously, just gutted. The guys put in a huge amount of work to get this opportunity, to come and play in another World Cup final. To pretty much do all you could and still not getting across the line with some small margins and I think throughout this whole campaign in a lot of my press conferences I have spoken about ‘uncontrollables’ and there were a couple which were hard to swallow.

Read: England wins maiden World Cup after Super Over thriller

England’s moment

Once again, take nothing away from England’s campaign, not just this match, but throughout, for all the cricket they have played, they are deserving winners. Either side walking away with the title probably feels fortunate after having it go down to a tie after regular time and then another one after six balls.

Fighting total

We sort of wanted 250, 260. We knew that it wasn’t easy and we were expecting it to dry a little bit more and it did do that. In the first 10 overs, the movement we were able to get and picking those early wickets were due to the pitch and the bowlers putting the ball in great areas. The amount of heart and fight the guys have shown throughout this whole campaign, probably none more than the match we have just witnessed. Someone had to walk away with the title and we are gutted that it’s not us.

 

Player of the Tournament

An individual performance is only a contribution to something greater than yourself and that is the team. The only thing you can perhaps think of at this point in time is what more could I have done? Individual accolades are secondary to the efforts that everybody within the whole squad and the support staff are putting into the bucket.