2019 Cricket World Cup: Kane Williamson left to lament 'tough pill to swallow'

By Niall Anderson at Lord's

Kane Williamson has been left to lament "a tough pill to swallow" as two rarely-used rules consigned the Black Caps to a heartbreaking defeat in the Cricket World Cup final.

The first curiosity struck with three balls remaining, as an accidental deflection off Ben Stokes' diving bat saw England earn four overthrows. It reduced what looked to be an equation of seven runs needed from two balls – or eight, if Stokes was run out by Martin Guptill's throw – to a much more manageable three from two, in their chase of 242 for victory.

Stokes said he "will be apologising to Kane for the rest of my life" for the incidental overthrows, and while it's a cricketing quirk that is seen on rare occasions, never had the rule - where the ball remains live on deflections off throws- been implemented in anywhere close to the massive moment in which it reared its ugly head today.

"The rule's been there for a long time, and I don't think anything like that's happened has it, where you now question it," said Williamson.

"You can't look at that and think that decided the match, there were so many other bits and pieces to that game that were so important. When it comes down to a tie, you start questioning every delivery, don't you? It was a pretty tough pill to swallow that, when we were looking pretty likely with Trent bowling really well, but it's one of those things."

Stokes went on to hit two singles off the last two balls, with both of his partners run out going for a second run, tying the game and sending it to a Super Over.

There, once again, the two sides couldn't be separated, with Martin Guptill being run out going for the winning run, and England being named World Cup champions on the never-before-used tiebreaker of "most boundaries", hitting 26 to New Zealand's 17 throughout the entire game.

Williamson acknowledged that it was a brutal way to lose.

"While the emotions are raw, it is pretty hard to swallow – two teams worked really hard to get to this moment, and when two attempts to separate them with a winner and a loser still didn't shine with one side coming through.

"The rules are there, and it's certainly something you don't consider going into the match - that maybe if we could have an extra boundary and then tied two attempts at winning it we will get across the line - and they didn't think that either.

"No-one probably thought they would have to resort to some of that stuff. Very tough to swallow."

Even the game going to a Super Over was an unexpected outcome to the Black Caps, but Williamson had no problem with their execution in the final 12 balls, once again instead having to rue his side's horrible luck.

"We didn't really do a lot of Super Over practice, but at the same time, it's cricket, and guys do work on hitting the ball out of the park and that's all that was required. We tied that too, didn't we – so it was just one of those days.

"Someone had to walk away with the title, and we're gutted it's not us."