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Williamson tight-lipped about his future after Boult's T20I retirement
Boult confirmed this was his last T20 World Cup but Williamson did not reveal his plans after the Kiwis finished their campaign with a consolation win
New Zealand stalwarts Kane Williamson (left) and Trent Boult. — AFP file
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson remained coy about his future in 20-overs internationals after his team crashed out from the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States.
New Zealand could not make the Super Eight stage of the 20-team tournament and finished third as West Indies and Afghanistan advanced from group C.
Team mate Trent Boult has confirmed this was his last T20 World Cup but Williamson would not reveal his plans after they finished their group campaign with a consolation victory against Papua New Guinea.
"I don't know," Williamson, 33, said when asked if he would be seen in action in the 2026 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
"There's a bit of time between now and then, so it's about regrouping as a side.
"We've got red-ball cricket over the next year basically, so it's back into some other international formats, and we'll see where things land."
Williamson said it was "frustrating" to crash out so early despite their habit of punching above their weight in global tournaments.
New Zealand began their campaign with defeats by Afghanistan and West Indies and their subsequent victories against Uganda and Papua New Guinea were of no real use.
"We wanted to start the campaign strong, and we weren't able to do that," Williamson said.
Earlier, left-arm paceman Boult said he had played his "last day" of international cricket after New Zealand's disappointing T20 World Cup campaign ended with a seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea.
The 34-year-old has been infrequently selected for international duty since being released from his New Zealand central contract in August 2022, allowing him to play in more domestic T20 leagues abroad.
But the renowned swing bowler did feature in New Zealand's 50-over World Cup campaign last year, where they reached the semifinals only to suffer a 70-run defeat by tournament hosts India at a packed Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
By contrast, an impressive 13-year stint in international cricket appeared to have ended in the rather more downbeat setting of a 'dead' T20 World Cup game, with both New Zealand and non-Test nation Papua New Guinea both already having no chance of qualifying for the second round before they met in front of a sparse crowd at the Brian Lara Stadium.
"It feels a little bit weird, a few emotions obviously the last couple of days," said Boult, who took two wickets for 14 runs as PNG were skittled out for 78 in an innings where fellow quick Lockie Ferguson finished with a remarkable 3-0 from his maximum four overs.
Boult's tally of 317 wickets in 78 Tests, is the fourth highest by any New Zealand bowler, with longstanding new-ball colleague Tim Southee (380 Test wickets) second only in the all-time national standings to the outstanding Richard Hadlee (431 wickets).
Boult's last Test was against England at Headingley nearly two years ago, with the World Cup semi-final the most recent of 114 one-day internationals that yielded 211 wickets in total.
Williamson paid tribute to Boult by saying he had been a "great servant of the game" who was "consistent in all formats".
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