NEWS
Follow UsAfter putting up 172 a slightly above-par total in Dubai, New Zealand would have felt they had one hand on the T20 World Cup trophy. It was heartbreak once against for them as Australia chased it down with ease, thanks to fifties from Mitchell Marsh and David Warner.
Despite the bowling not firing, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson refused to blame them for the loss, saying that it has been a strong point for them throughout the competition.
"The bowling attack has been a strong point for us throughout this whole competition. And you're having to adjust from venue to venue, team to team, and that's the nature of playing in tournament sport," Williamson said in the post-match press conference.
"And tonight, yeah, you can always look at little bits that you want to do a little bit better. But ultimately the quality was there from Australia and they played really, really well and put us under pressure, and we weren't able to get those breakthroughs."
"If you are, then you can't build that pressure, and 170 feels like a long way away. But they played really well. They got momentum and it never changed," he added.
Williamson was the pick of the Blackcaps players on the night. He smashed 85 off just 48 deliveries to put New Zealand in the driver's seat initially.
Speaking of the knock, Williamson said, "It was nice to make a contribution. And I suppose when you finish with the end result, always want a little bit more. And you want to make sure that as a batsman or being a part of partnerships that have real value, and certainly that was the focus. But unfortunately today it didn't get us far enough."
"But there are a number of good contributions. The team did their very best and it wasn't quite enough tonight."
New Zealand could manage just 57 in the first 10 overs. Williamson at that point says he was looking to build a few partnerships. "I was trying to play the situation as well as I could, and you know, build some partnerships which we were able to do and get a little bit of momentum after what was quite a tough start on that surface."
"Yeah, it was nice to get to a reasonable total, and we thought if we were able to put some wickets on the board and build some pressure in the finals, anything can happen, but once again, Australia were very, very good," he added.
New Zealand have not lost three white-ball World Cup finals in a row, but Williamson says he is proud of this team's efforts throughout this period.
"You sign up to play the game, and you win and you lose, and these are things that can happen on any day," the New Zealand captain said.
"You know, if you look at the campaign on a whole, which we do, and the type of cricket that we have been able to play, I can say that we are very proud of our efforts throughout this period of time.
"All these different fine lines and results, they happen, you know, and today, we turned up and played some really good cricket. And it wasn't quite good enough. That's sort of just the way it goes, you know, and for us, it's still putting our energy into the right areas.
There are a lot of positives in the statements that you made, and for us, it's still trying to build on that and grow as a team. You want to win these comps.
When you do turn up on the day, anything can happen, and we can see how competitive this competition has been right through the group stages, as well, and there were so many sides that were more than capable of winning this competition. But like I say, really proud of the efforts that have gone in from our side across the board."
New Zealand do not have much time to rest as they take on India in the first of the three-match T20I series in Jaipur starting Wednesday (November 17).