Even after the ultimate heartbreak, Kane Williamson was all about grace, poise and magnanimity, writes Sambit Bal as he reminisces a press conference worthy of reverence in the 2020 Wisden Almanack.
First published in the 2020 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack
“Laugh or cry – it’s your choice, isn’t it?” Barely an hour after apparently being consigned to a lifetime of hurt, Kane Williamson sat smiling in the real-tennis court behind the Lord’s Pavilion, bearing not the faintest resemblance to a man whose spirit has been crushed. He was not burning with indignation or anger; he was not even a little bitter or begrudging.
Williamson was not the first World Cup-losing captain to face a press conference, but who else has lost the World Cup without actually losing? If it was an evening of providential deliverance for England, it was also the cruellest for New Zealand. They had lost their second successive World Cup final, not by the slenderest of margins, but by the travesty of a regulation mandating that fours and sixes counted more than their actual value.
Even before it came to the ties and the tie-breaker, there was the case of a dismissal turning into a six, when Trent Boult back-pedalled on to the ropes, and the misfortune of another six along the carpet via a ricochet off the bat. Had the umpires been more vigilant, this should have been a five, leaving England’s No. 10 on strike with four to get off two balls.
With only a handful of New Zealanders present, this was no stirring of national passion for Williamson. It was something much higher: a spontaneous outbreak of warmth, appreciation and gratitude for a man whose dignity and empathy and loveliness had provided the magnificent finish to an unforgettable day.
