Tim Southee – Leading from the Front

 

It has been 14 years when Tim Southee bursted on the International Scene as a 19-year-old teenager who was keen to take New Zealand cricket to next level, over the year he has become spearhead of country’s bowling attack which could arguably be termed as the best in their history

 

Tim Southee is leader of New Zealand's pace attack

Tim Southee dreamt to play rugby for New Zealand one day, growing up on a farm in Maungakaramea (to the southwest of Whangarei), he and his brother Mark would spend hours running and tackling - dreaming of being All Blacks. He played Rugby for Kings College, Auckland Secondary School and Northern Region teams. But then he was also selected for the cricket team at school, where cricket became priority over rugby. It was here that his dream of becoming All Blacks changed to playing one day for Black Caps.

His first significant achievement came in January 2007 when he and Trent Boult (Aged 18 and 17 respectively) took 18 wickets at Carisbrook against India in Youth Test. Within three weeks, Southee made his first-class debut for Northern Districts. A year later he had a Steller U-19 World Cup where he won the Man of the Tournament award. This led his national call up and he made his Test Debut against England at McLean Park, in March 2008. Southee was only 19 years and 102 days old at the time of his debut, the seventh youngest New Zealander to play Test Cricket. Southee had a sense national debut, he picked 5-55 in the first innings and smashed 77* of just 40 balls which included nine sixes. He was hailed for big things.

He has been part of one of the best teams from NZ winning Test World cup

Over the course of next few years pressure of expectations started to show on his performance. In first four years Southee had played 18 Tests and picked only 45 wickets at an average of 44. It was clear that he was not able to perform as per the expectations and needed a boost. He however had been able to hang around with performance in ODI Cricket(82 wickets in 60 games in ODI cricket at 31.09 and 28 wickets in 25 T20I at 27.60) Moreover, New Zealand was going through a phase of transition and hence needed to back their youngsters.

The Bangalore Test in 2012 where Southee took 7-64 in first innings. however, changed everything, it gave him confidence that he can succeed in any condition and with arrival of an able partners first in Trent Boult and then Neil Wagner, Southee took his game to another level.  Three months later the Southee-Boult duo announced their arrival with a remarkable win against Sri Lanka, it was start of a new era.

In early 2013 when Brendon McCullum took over as the captain of national cricket team, Southee got a captain who trusted in his abilities and who was never hesitant to go for some runs for buying wickets.  In 2013, New Zealand lost both the tests, but Southee was impeccable at lords, with 108-10, he got his name scripted on Lords honour board. Later that year he picked 29 wickets in 5 matches against touring West Indies and India in 2013-14 home season.

The moment that saw Southee being acknowledged as the best in the business was his sensational spell against England at Wellington. His spell of 7-33 ensured a remarkable win for New Zealand.  In 2016 when New Zealand was chasing their first Tests series win against Pakistan in 32 years, Southee took 6-80 at Seddon Park, Hamilton ultimately helping New Zealand to whitewash Pakistan.

Next year he and Boult demolished England, Southee picked 12 wickets in what was a memorable victory by 1-0 for the Kiwis. By this time Boult, Southee and Wagner have formed a strong pace attack which was rescripting some of the best moments in New Zealand ‘s cricket history under Kane Williamson’s captaincy.

Last year when New Zealand won their 1^st ever world cup in form of World Test Championship 2021, Southee was crucial in the remarkable triumph. He picked 56 wickets in 11 matches at an astonishing average of 20.82. The win was monumental for a small country like New Zealand but above all it showed how far they have come as a team. Since March 2015 to October 2021, they have played 4 World Cup finals, unluckily loosing 3 of them. Hence winning Test Championship became special for them, it was like crowning as the best Test team.

At 33, after 14 years into International Cricket and conquering uncharted territories, Southee has new challenges in front of him, he is out there to defend New Zealand’s Test Crown and aiming to win 2022- T20 World Cup and 2023- 50 Over World Cup. 

On the personal front he would like to notch certain milestones, having played 83 Tests, his eyes might be on 100 Tests, only four New Zealander have achieved it and none of them have been a fast bowler. He might also target 400 Test wickets, Sir Richard Hadlee is the only one to scale it.

Southee however is trying to enjoy the moments in the pack which is considered the best to have played for New Zealand and of them BJ Watling and Ross Taylor have already retired.  His immediate target is to win a Test series against South Africa against whom New Zealand have never won a Test series at home.