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London - New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was making no excuses for his side's dramatic World Cup final 'loss' to England at Lord's on Sunday.
It was a devastating result for the Black Caps, who tied the match - both sides ended on 241 from their 50 overs - before the deciding Super Over also ended in a tie with the sides scoring 15 each.
In the end, England were handed the World Cup because they had scored more boundaries than New Zealand in their 50 overs - that 24-16 scoreline one nobody could have predicted being the ultimate tiebreaker.
It was one of the great games of cricket and easily the most dramatic World Cup knockout match in history, eclipsing South Africa's dramatic tie against Australia in the 1999 semi-final in Edgbaston.
Williamson, named Player of the Tournament, was clearly emotional at his post-match press conference, but he held it all together.
"Yeah, obviously, just gutted," he said.
"You know, the guys put in a huge amount of work to get this opportunity, to come here and play in another World Cup final.
"In a lot of my press conferences I have spoken about 'uncontrollables' and there were a couple today that were pretty hard to swallow.
"Once again, take nothing away from England's campaign, not just this match, but throughout.
"All the good cricket they have played, they are deserving winners.
In discussing the boundary tiebreaker rule, Williamson said it was not something he had ever thought about.
"Yeah, while the emotions are raw it is pretty hard to swallow when two teams have worked really, really hard to get to this moment in time and then still have two attempts to separate them with a winner and a loser," he said.
"It is what it is, really. The rules are there at the start.
"No one probably thought they would have that sort of result ... it was great game of cricket."
There were numerous moments throughout the contest that didn't go New Zealand's way, including a freak incident in the final over of the match where a ball thrown in from the boundary hit Ben Stokes and made its way to the boundary, giving England a bonus four runs at a crucial stage.
That moment took England's situation from needing 9 off 3 to needing 3 off 2, and Williamson closed his eyes and took a deep breath before talking about it.
"There were so many other bits and pieces to that game that were so important. When it comes down to a tie, you start looking at every single delivery, don't you?" he said.
"It was a pretty tough pill to swallow that when, yeah, we were looking pretty good then with Trent (Boult) bowling well.
"It is quite hard to look at it in a rational way when we have just been through what we've been through."
@LloydBurnard is in England covering the 2019 Cricket World Cup for Sport24 ...
