NEW ZEALAND — New Zealand’s veteran pacer Tim Southee said the decision to end his Test career through the upcoming series against England feels right for him. Southee, though, will be available to play the 2025 World Test Championship final if New Zealand qualifies for it.
“One last chance at three grounds that have been pretty good to me and places I really love playing at. It’s a tough decision but I think it’s the right one. (We’ve) also got some promising young bowlers coming through, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working alongside and hopefully taught them a thing or two along the way.”
“And they’ve certainly taught me a thing or two as well, so that’s been a pleasure and it’s their time now to keep driving this team forward. I guess you look at what’s in front of you and last year was that World Cup and we had the T20 World Cup earlier this year.”
“We had this chunk of Test cricket, which I guess was all exciting along the last 12 months, and you near the end of that exciting part and you look forward and it’s a marquee series against a great opposition (England), one obviously which I started against all those years ago, and it feels right,” said Southee to reporters in Auckland.
Co-incidentally Southee had made his Test debut against England under Daniel Vettori’s leadership in Napier in March 2008, where he took a five-for in the first innings, while hitting an unbeaten 77 with the bat, though New Zealand ended up on the losing side.
“It was just a dream start. I think just walking in that changing room, you see the likes of Vettori, Fleming, McCullum as a 19-year-old kid. That was just a special week. Obviously, the result wasn’t what we wanted, but I guess to be able to perform at that level and just you’re walking into changing with your heroes and to be able to get some wickets and some runs in that first game was pretty special.”
Southee’s final Test match will be in his hometown Hamilton, which means he will bid farewell to the longest format by playing in front of family and friends. “Hamilton’s now home so it’s nice that (I’ll be) able to walk off there and drive home – probably not drive home – but just to be able to finish in front of friends and family.
“It’s a ground that I’ve played a lot of cricket in and I’ve had a lot of cricket for Northern Districts and New Zealand. So it’s a special place like the other two, the Basin and obviously an amazing Test venue in Hagley Oval as well. I said, it feels right against a very good opposition, great mate, who’s the coach of the opposition as well. The guy has had a big part in my career and like I said a very close friend,” he said. — (IANS)