In what is being dubbed the greatest cricket match in history, England tied with New Zealand’s first-innings score of 241 before matching England’s fifteen runs in the super over, only for the hosts to emerge victorious having scored more boundaries in the match.

“I’d like to thank our side for the fight and heart they showed to get us this far,” Williamson told Sky Sports right after the game. “It just wasn’t meant to be today. The guys are shattered – it’s devastating.”

A tough one to take for @BLACKCAPS but what an extraordinary part they have played in one of the great matches. #NZvENG #CWC19Final pic.twitter.com/GHvn6oTPtW

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 14, 2019

The New Zealand skipper later told reporters in London: “Laugh or cry, it’s your choice, isn’t it? It’s not anger. There’s a lot of disappointment, I suppose.”

“The guys are really feeling it and I think it’s probably more down to some of the uncontrollables that go on when they have put in such a huge amount of effort and we know in this game it can be fickle in its nature. There are parts that, as hard as you try, sometimes those cards don’t fall your way and today it ebbed and flowed.”

“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.”

“The thing you walk away with is the amount of heart and the amount of fight the guys have shown throughout this whole campaign, but probably none more than the match we have just witnessed and both sides showed that today and it did come down to – I don’t know how they won it – what was it, boundaries or something?”