“Quite Frustrating For Us..” – Kane Williamson Reacts After Poor Showdown Against West Indies

New Zealand’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign faced a major hiccup with a 13-run defeat at the hands of West Indies in Trinidad.

The ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 campaign has been nothing short of a nightmare for Kane Williamson’s side. The Kiwis are currently sitting at the bottom of the Group C points table and only a miracle can turn the tables for them to qualify for the Super 8.

Kane Williamson Reacts After Poor Showdown Against West Indies

Talking about their match against West Indies, the Kiwis were initially in control of the game in the first innings as they started on a positive note with the ball. The New Zealand’s pace department looked merciless with the new ball as West Indies were reduced to 30/5 at one stage in the game.

Following the lethal bowling from the Kiwi bowlers, the West Indies’ batters were looking clueless in the middle and that’s when Sherfane Rutherford stepped up and played one of the best knocks of his career.

Rutherford, who was under pressure after the dismissal of the top-order, stepped up on the occasion and played a terrific knock of 68* runs off 39 balls and helped his team West Indies post a total of 149 runs on the scoreboard.

For the Kiwi, Trent Boult was the pick of the bowlers as he picked three wickets. Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson also bagged two wickets.

This was New Zealand’s second defeat after Afghanistan defeated them in their first game. Now, the Kiwis must rely on many results to qualify for the Super 8 stage.

While chasing the target, the New Zealand cricket team was seen struggling to score runs. A hero like Rutherford was missing in the Kiwis’ squad, who could save the game for Kane Williamson.

Finn Allen, Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner contributed during the chase, however, it still wasn’t enough in the end. After the defeat, skipper Kane Williamson acknowledged that Sherfane’s innings was the difference. He said:

“We had an inkling it would be quite tricky if we hit an area and that proved to be the case. The quality of Sherfane’s innings was the difference, incredibly impressive and quite frustrating for us. The batting depth from their side was quite beneficial, we took the aggressive option to take the wicket and T20 is a game of small margins and unfortunately did not work out that way,”

Mitchell Santner was handed the final over in the first innings, where he leaked 18 runs. This over put New Zealand under immense pressure. Talking about the same, Williamson said:

“We know that and we have full trust in that, the guys did that well in the first 12 overs but as I said it’s small margins and two three balls in an over can go big and the score can be above par. You get the prep and do what you can. Conditions here are what they are and we can’t make excuses,”

Kane Williamson Wants His Team To Pick Themselves Up For Next Challenges

Kane Williamson also added that the team needs to learn from their mistakes and need to pick themselves up for their next match. He said:

“Conditions here are what they are and we can’t make excuses. We need to keep getting better and keep finding a way, 10-15 runs that can make a big difference. We need to bounce back quickly, we are back in two days, we need to be smarter. The learnings are important and we need to pick ourselves up and go again,”