James Tredwell has praised England’s young team after their nail-biting defeat to the West Indies in yesterday’s World T20 final in India.

England were beaten in an agonisingly close World T20 final on Sunday, which culminated in Carlos Brathwaite hitting Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes in the last over to win the match for his side.

Tredwell, who has 64 international appearances to his name, was one of England’s key limited-overs players not that long ago. The Kent off-spinner had a huge amount of sympathy for Stokes, and praised the performance of a youthful England side who had surprised some in reaching the final at all.

“It was massively unlucky, and a heartbreaker to finish it the way they did”, Tredwell said when KSN caught up with him at the 2016 Kent Cricket media day on Monday.

“Even going into the tournament, people would’ve probably written them off as a real contender, so to play the way they’ve played and get as far as they’ve gone and play the cricket they have is testament to the whole group.

“It was gutting to watch, but there are so many positives that came out of the tournament.”

The final over, which started with the West Indies requiring 19 runs to win, saw Stokes deliver four full-length, marginally short-of-a-yorker balls, all of which were dispatched for six. Tredwell praised the Durham man for stepping up and bowling in such a high-pressure situation.

“It can be massively tough – daunting”, the Kent spinner said of bowling key overs in major international fixtures.

“You’ve got limited runs to play with, even if it was only one over. The pressure is still on you. You try your hardest to put the ball where you think they can’t hit it, and sometimes they still hit it!

“It was perhaps a fraction short from a yorker, which can sometimes turn into a half-volley and be very hittable. On another day, he might have half-hit one and been caught on the fence. It’s just one of those things.

“That sort of thing can happen in that form of the game. It is gutting, but more to the point, Stokesy took it on and went for it and in those scenarios, sometimes it can go the other way.”

Tredwell, now 34, has not featured for England since making his second Test appearance against the West Indies in Antigua last April. Having not yet featured for his country since new Head Coach Trevor Bayliss took over, the off-spinner has not yet given up hope of again appearing for his country, though he feels somewhat shut out from the current setup.

“A fraction, maybe”, he said, when asked if he felt the international door had been closed on him.

“I don’t think I did a hell of a lot wrong when I was playing. I think my record stands for itself. It’s a bit disappointing in that regard, but it’s one of those things. It goes in cycles. I got five wickets in the game. You can’t really complain at that, but I think that was always the plan – that as soon as Moeen Ali was fit, he was going to come back in. I was a bit of a stop-gap.

“I went into that Test trying to do as well as I could so that they couldn’t leave me out for the next game, but that didn’t work! Maybe if I’d have got a two or three-for [in the second innings] and we’d won the game, I might be in a different position now. You’ve just got to take it as it comes and concentrate on the next challenge.”