Tim Southee, veteran New Zealand seamer revealed he loves Test cricket more compared to other formats, adding that it gets the best out of him as it gets his ‘blood boiling’. The Kiwi bowler also spoke about the prospect of facing India in the first-ever World Test Championship final.
New Zealand has taken off for England, and they will start their quarantine soon in preparation for the upcoming two-match Test series against the Three Lions. However, all eyes will be on Southampton at the Rose Bowl when the Blackcaps face off against India in the World Test Championship final on June 18.
Tim Southee Loves His Treasured Format Test Cricket Which Gets The Blood Boiling
The New Zealand men’s cricket team departed for England on Saturday night to play a two-Test series, followed by the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against the Virat Kohli-captained India from June 18 onwards. While the Black Caps will play the first Test against the hosts from June 2 in London, the second Test will commence in Birmingham on June 10.
“I love test cricket. For me it’s my most treasured format. I love all three, but test cricket is something that really gets the blood boiling. Being the first [World Test Championship final] it will be pretty special as well. India in England is unusual on its own, but it’s great to test yourself against one of the best sides and they have been for a long period of time. It should be a great match,” Tim Southee said in an interview with stuff.co.nz.
Tim Southee also jokingly remarked how the current crop of New Zealand players had got it easy compared to when he started his international cricket journey. The bowler debuted in 2008 as a 19-year-old and won just once in his first 14 Tests. However, things are changing, and the Kiwis have won 9 of their last 11 Test series.
“Ross [Taylor] and I quite often laugh about it because it took so long to have those wins. Guys are coming in and Kyle [Jamieson] has won six test matches already and hasn’t lost a test match,” Southee remarked.
This will be the last tour for Kiwi wicketkeeper-batsman, 35-year-old BJ Watling, who recently announced that he was retiring from competitive cricket. He represented New Zealand so far in 73 Tests, 28 ODIs, and five T20Is.
Tim Southee Thinks Age Is Only A Number And One Should Continue Playing Tests As Long As One Is Still Able To Perform And Reach High Standards
The 32-year-old believes as long as he can maintain the requisite fitness standards, age is just a number and he can continue playing international cricket at the top level. Tim Southee also talked about how players take better care of their bodies in the modern-day, which is undoubtedly helping them elongate their careers.
“As long as you’re still able to perform and reach those high standards it takes to represent your country then I think age is only a number. You look at the likes of [England test veteran] James Anderson who is 38. He’s still arguably bowling as good as he ever has. hink cricketers in general look after themselves a lot better. We’re a lot fitter as a group, we train a lot on the strength and conditioning side of things. I think you’ll see players play for longer,” Tim Southee added.
The seamer is still going strong in Test cricket and he has the fourth-most wickets in the longest format since 2019 (65 wickets from 14 matches). Only Pat Cummins, Stuart Broad, and Ravichandran Ashwin have taken more scalps in that time period.
Tim Southee has 302 wickets in 77 Tests averaging 28.71 besides having 190 scalps in 143 ODIs and 99 scalps in 82 T20Is. He has also picked 28 wickets in 40 IPL games having played his last match in 2019.
In the 2011 World Cup, he scalped 18 wickets at an excellent average of 17.33 which showed ample proof of his ability to adapt to sub-continental conditions. He also shone during the 2015 World Cup where New Zealand made their first-ever appearance in a final. His career-best spell of 7/33 came in World Cup 2015 where Tim Southee destroyed England’s batting line-up with his lethal spell with the new ball.