'Proud' New Zealand look to improve and move forward: Williamson
Williamson admitted Australia had deserved to win Twenty20 World Cup final on Sunday.
DUBAI (AFP) - New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson on Sunday said there is always a "bigger picture" and he sees growth in the team despite their loss to Australia in the Twenty20 World Cup final.
Williamson s 85 off 48 balls went in vain as Australia outplayed New Zealand by eight wickets in Dubai to clinch their maiden T20 World Cup title.
Australia s win brought back memories of their dominant win over the Black Caps in the 2015 ODI World Cup final in Melbourne.
The Kiwis also lost the 2019 ODI World Cup to England in a dramatic final that was decided on boundary count after a Super Over.
Williamson interrupted a journalist when reminded of New Zealand s three losses in World Cup finals, saying "And championship final?"
He was referring to this year s victory in the Test Championship final over India in England.
"You sign up to play the game, and you win and you lose, and these are things that can happen on any day," Williamson told reporters.
"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.
"You get to a final and anything can happen. You mentioned perhaps that white ball in 2019, which might be a longer discussion if you have some time."
Williamson admitted Australia had deserved to win on Sunday as they chased down their target of 173 for the loss of just two wickets.
"Would have been obviously nicer to be on the right side of the result. But Australia played really, really well, and you can hear them celebrating next door, and rightly so.
"They had a fantastic campaign. They are a team full of amazing players and they really stood up today."
New Zealand picked themselves up quickly after their opening loss to Pakistan and won four successive Super 12 games with pace bowlers Trent Boult and Tim Southee rattling the opposition.
Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell and Williamson scored over 200 runs in the tournament with Jimmy Neesham coming up with a splendid cameo in their semi-final win over England.
Williamson said they will look for gains ahead of next year s T20 World Cup in Australia.
"The bigger picture is the important one, and it is trying to continue to improve as a group," said Williamson.
"I thought we came here with some relatively -- or a mix, I suppose, of experience and younger players, that a lot of them, it s their first time in a World Cup and they played extremely well and are much better for the experiences they have had and there s a lot of growth here."
