LONDON • An emotional Kane Williamson admitted that his New Zealand side had been left "shattered" by the Super Over defeat on Sunday, their second World Cup final reverse in four years.

The Black Caps had appeared in control for large parts of England's reply to their 241 before Ben Stokes' last-over heroics and the drama of the added 12 balls.

Australia had swept aside New Zealand in Melbourne four years ago but, this time, they came so close to glory, losing on a boundary countback.

Conceding that going down to the last ball was "tough to take", the captain said: "It was a fantastic game of cricket. Both sides showed a lot of fight and a lot of heart... You've got to give credit to England.

"Obviously, we are just gutted. The guys put in a huge amount of work to get this opportunity to play in a final, and to do all you could and not get across the line.

"It is small margins. It was a couple of uncontrollables and that is hard to swallow. It is very difficult to look at one or two areas when the margin is so small and you could look at anything.

"The thing you walk away with is the amount of heart and fight the guys have shown this whole campaign, but none more so than in this match we just witnessed."

In his typically classy manner, Williamson, who was named player of the tournament after scoring 578 runs, did not seek to blame anyone for the loss, although he would have given up his individual accolade "in a heartbeat" for one more run in the Super Over.

Trent Boult had caught Stokes in the 49th over before stepping on to the boundary rope, and then a huge slice of luck went England's way as the all-rounder dived for his ground and deflected the ball to the boundary for four more crucial runs.

"I don't even know quite how they won it - what was it?" Williamson said. "Boundaries or something, but someone had to walk away with the title. We are gutted it is not us, but England had a very good campaign and they deserved their victory.

"The rule (on the ball hitting Stokes' bat and going for four overthrows) has been there for a long time. You can't look at that and think perhaps that decided the match, there were so many other bits and pieces."

Asked if a boundary countback to break the deadlock was fair, he refused to blame the rule.

"I guess you never thought you'd have to ask about that rule and I never thought I would have to answer it," Williamson said.

"While the emotions are raw - two teams worked really, really hard."

THE TIMES, LONDON