A look back on Tim Southee’s incredible career

HAMILTON: Tim Southee ended his illustrious test career with a win against England on Tuesday. He retires as one of the best players to ever bowl for The Land of the Long White Cloud.

With one of cricket’s most accomplished bowlers calling it a career (at least with the red-ball), it’s time to take a look back on his incredible career.

TESTS

Southee took two wickets in his final test match, the first of which began England’s demise in their second innings. The 36-year-old fast bowler bowled Ben Duckett in the second over, bringing Seddon Park to life. Later, Glenn Phillips would have the honour of helping Southee take his second wicket of the game and the final of his test career, as he caught out Jacob Bethell.  

That was the 391^st dismissal of Southee’s career, placing him at second all time on New Zealand’s list of highest test wicket takers, only behind Kiwi legend, Richard Hadlee.

Southee was immediately a stand-out player from a young age, being named player-of-the tournament in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. In his very first test match, Southee took five wickets against England and scored 72 runs in the Kiwi’s second innings. The Kiwi’s best performance came in 2013, when he took 10 wickets against England at Lord’s, with a six-wicket haul in the second innings.

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His single best innings performance came against India in 2012. Despite losing the match, Southee took seven wickets in India’s first innings, which included an incredible spell where he took four wickets, including the dismissals of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.

ODIs

Southee is also the third highest wicket taker for New Zealand in ODIs, only lagging behind Daniel Vettori and Kyle Mills. He has taken 221 wickets, with his best performance coming against England in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, when he dismissed seven batsmen, five of which came in the span of six overs.

While Southee hasn’t announced his retirement from ODIs, he has not played since last year’s (2023) ICC Cricket World Cup.

T20Is

The Kiwi is not only the leading wicket-taker for New Zealand in T2OIs, he is the leading wicket-taker out of all players. Over the 126 matches he’s played, Southee has taken 164 wickets, with his best performance coming against Pakistan in 2010. Between his dismissals of Ahmed Shehzad and Abdul Razzaq, Southee joined the prestigious list of bowlers with hat tricks in the format.

He dismissed Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, and Umar Akmal on successive deliveries. At the time, he was the third ever bowler to take a hat-trick, alongside compatriot Jacob Oran and Australian Brett Lee.

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WHAT’S NEXT?

Southee has only announced his retirement from tests, but hasn’t discussed whether he will continue to play in the white-ball formats. With a T20I series against Sri Lanka on the horizon, followed by an ODI series against the lions in January next year, Southee may continue his already illustrious career, while imparting some wisdom on younger players like William O’Rourke.