Hitting a six to beat Australia with it all on the line is standard fare for back yard cricketers, but to pull it off in the World Cup in front of 40,000 fans chewing their knuckles is something the rest of us can only dream of.
For Kane Williamson, it came true. Typically, he was understated and matter of fact when talking the media through it.
“I was looking to hit a boundary, ideally a six. I knew Mitchell Starc was bowling at the other end, and was potentially quite tough for the batsmen coming in, so getting a boundary away was kind of the plan,” said Williamson.
The man at the other end, who’d just seen the two batsmen above him mown down by 1.97 metre Mitchell Starc’s yorkers, had a bit going through his mind.
“(Putting the pads on), I was pretty wound up, that was for sure. I got out there, but Kane quickly slowed it down for me, and simplified it, if we could get through the next two balls, we could move forward from there. It was great to get there,” said Trent Boult.
Mike Hesson, who ended the game in a massive Corey Anderson bear hug, had nothing but praise for his number three, recognising the character he’d shown.
“Mitchell Starc started to swing the ball nicely, I think four guys got knocked over the first ball they faced from him - he’s a challenging guy to face and I thought Trent showed a heck of a lot of character there, just to leave that wide one when you’ve got adrenalin going showed he was still thinking very clearly, and I think at that point Kane showed he needed to make a bit of a move, to play the shot he did in that situation just shows what a quality player he is.
“Being four down needing 70 odd I thought the game was very much in the balance, I thought Corey and Kane developed that partnership after a little bit of a shaky start showed a lot of character and those guys will be better off for that experience, and I think everyone will be to be fair,” said Hesson.
Seeing his side lose four wickets for 15 runs at the pointy end of the contest, Hesson, who prides himself of keeping on an even emotional keel, knew what had to happen after Boult saw out those two deliveries from Starc.
“It all happened pretty quickly really, we had a very quick chat in the dug out, I was actually sitting next to Tom Latham and said he’s probably got to get them all himself here, in this over ideally, the field was set out square so he was probably expecting something shorter, to go down behind the ball and pick it up like that took a lot of guts, but also a heck of a lot of skill as well. Yeah, he’s a class player.
“When he (Williamson) hit it, it was pure exhilaration really, just turning to the rest of the team and seeing the looks on their faces was pretty special really.
“The crowd was amazing – a lot of people emotionally invested in it, and living every ball, hugely passionate, it was a great day for the guys to be part of,” said Hesson.
