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No one probably got closer than us:Boult


Bangladeshpost
Published : 18 Jul 2019 07:08 PM | Updated : 27 Aug 2020 08:07 PM

A group of rueful New Zealand players touched down on home soil on Thursday, still coming to terms with the gut-wrenching defeat to England in the World Cup final.

Pace bowler Trent Boult was among six Black Caps players making a low-key homecoming at Auckland airport, soaking up commiserations from a few fans and well-wishers.

The left-armer was still haunted by the deflection off Ben Stokes’s bat in the 50th over that raced to the boundary and helped send the final into a Super Over before England claimed the win on the total boundaries scored.

“It’s natural to nitpick, to wonder about all those little things and how it could have been a totally different game,” he told reporters at the airport.

Boult said: "I'm sure you could appreciate it's a nerve-wracking scenario to be a part of. A lot of people over there interested. A lot of people watching on the TV. It was an amazing stage to be on. Obviously saw what it meant for the Englishmen to get across the line. It could have been us. Unfortunately it wasn't. No one is probably going to get closer to winning the World Cup or losing the World Cup as us.

"You see a lot of disappointment in cricketing fans around the world, not just Kiwis but a lot of supporters that wanted us to win. It's a shame to let everyone down really. It's hard to know that after playing 15 hours… A lot of Kiwis out there were saying 'we felt for you' kind of thing. Yeah don't really know too much more to say really. Obviously we're all hurting and yeah sorry for letting everyone down"

And that brings us to the catch that wasn't. "Obviously the priority is on the ball itself," Boult said. "That's all I was really worried about. Silly of me obviously to not know where the rope was. Similar to the catch I got against the West Indies earlier in the tournament but they're quite quirky boundaries [in England]. They're not actually circles. They're kinda octagons and squares and all sorts of things. Obviously you can imagine my feeling when I felt my left shoe hit the cushion and it was too late for me to throw it to Marty [Guptill, who was waiting for the relay catch]"

 “I’ve been living that last over in my mind a lot — somehow I got hit for six along the ground which has never happened before.

“To see the scores level (after the Super Over) and still lose, yeah, that was a pretty unique situation.”

England’s maiden World Cup title denied New Zealand their first but the class shown by Black Caps captain Kane Williamson and his players in defeat generated global acclaim.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she wanted to put on a home-coming celebration for the team but their different schedules and commitments have put the idea on ice for the time being.

Boult said he was overwhelmed by the messages of support from the public. “We’ve just been on a plane 15 hours and there were a lot of Kiwis saying ‘we felt for you’,” 

he said.

“I didn’t really know what to say. Obviously, we’re all hurting and we’re sorry for letting everyone down.

“I just want to get home, walk my dog along the beach and try to 

forget about it but it’s gonna be a hard one to swallow for the next couple of years.”