Nottinghamshire coach Peter Moores said there was "nothing you can do" to explain his side's semi-final defeat against Worcestershire, which saw his team score nine runs for the loss of three wickets in the final 12 balls and thus fall one short of a tie that would have been enough for them.
"It's quite difficult to explain," Moores said. "It's as gutting a loss as I can remember. It's a tough one because we got ourselves in a position where we felt we couldn't lose and then we did.
"It looked like an easy finish and professional players often make it look very easy. But in sport you never know until you get over the line. We did a lot of things right and then - give them credit - they produced a couple of very good stops in the last two overs."
"There is nothing you can do to explain it. That's sport and that's why people come and watch it.
Nottinghamshire needed six off the last over, and one off the last ball, but Ben Duckett swung-and-missed at Wayne Parnell's length ball with wicket-keeper Ben Cox stood up to the stumps to send Worcestershire through to a second final in as many years.
"Ben's distraught in there and you just have to take it," said Moores. "When Dan [Christian] hit that six, it felt like that was the game. But you're never over the line until you're over the line.
"I haven't said anything to the players. You can imagine what the dressing room's like. When you lose a game at Finals Day because you looked like you were going to lose, that's tough. When you lose a game that you never expected to lose all the way through it, that's a big thing to take in that moment. But it's a fair scrap and they got one more run than us.
Moores suggested that his side could use the defeat as motivation in future years.
"I can't remember a game like that if I'm honest," he said. "No one comes here and has a great day unless they walk away with the trophy.
"The lads put their heart and soul into the game. Our fans are very good and they've had some tough days to take this year. If we'd won the trophy today, we'd have had the most trophies of any side over the last ten years.
"The tough days make the good ones taste that little bit sweeter."