Durable Southee’s remarkable feat

The coronavirius pandemic struck just as the veteran seamer was hitting his best, writes Andrew Voerman.

Tim Southee did something remarkable in February and March, before the coronavirus pandemic put cricket on hold for the foreseeable future.

In the 40th series of his test career, 12 years after he made an unforgettable debut, he delivered his most comprehensive set of performances with the ball.

Southee’s 14 wickets in the two tests against India were the most he has ever taken in a two-match series, and his average of 13 and strike rate of 28 were career-best marks as well.

At the Basin Reserve in Wellington, where he took 4-49 and 5-61, then at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, where he took 2-38 and 3-36, he was bowling as well as he ever has.

Those efforts persuaded his team-mates and coaches to honour him with the Cricket Players’ Association’s Players’ Cap earlier this month, in a ceremony that took place online.

The award has been around since 2012 and Southee is one of three players to have received it twice, joining Ross Taylor, who won it in 2014 and 2019, and Kane Williamson, who won it from 2015-17.

Having turned 31 in December, he is the second-oldest player to have won it, behind Taylor, who was 35 a year ago, and the seven-year gap between his first award, in 2013, and now is two years longer than the five-year gap between Taylors.

It wasn’t too much of a surprise to hear Southee say how proud he was of his durability, speaking after the presentation.

‘‘One thing I’ve been proud of is the durability to play for this period of time and for many more years to come as well.

‘‘I pride myself on my fitness and the guys as a whole in the 12 years that I’ve played have got fitter and have got stronger, and I think you’ll see guys play for longer periods of time. Hopefully I can – touch wood – stay injury free and play for a few more years to come.’’

When he made his test debut against England in 2008 as a 19-year-old, he struck with his 11th ball, trapping Michael Vaughan lbw, and has gone on to bowl 16,393 deliveries in total – a mark that puts him second only to Sir Richard Hadlee among New Zealand pace bowlers, by some 5000 balls.

Across all three formats he has bowled 25,106 deliveries, which still leaves him second to Hadlee, who has bowled 28,100. It is conceivable he could bowl the 500 overs required to close that gap, but the longer international cricket remains on hold, the more difficult it will become.

What is clear is that Southee has played a lot of cricket – more than any other New seamer.

With 287 international caps to his name, he has nine more than Chris Cairns and 56 more than Kyle Mills, the next fast bowler on the list. Hadlee played 201 matches, while Trent Boult, who is just seven months younger than Southee, has only played 184.

The pandemic cut the Black Caps’ summer short with two one-day internationals and three Twenty20s still to play. It is likely to account for the tour of Scotland, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the West Indies that were planned for June and July, and it could still be causing problems next summer. It’s given cricketers a chance to spend time with their families and to take stock, which might explain Southee’s reflective mood, when asked what had changed for him between his test debut – where he took 5-55 in the first innings and smashed 77 off 40 balls in a losing effort in the second – and now.

‘‘When you’re young and you come in you’re probably a little bit naive and you don’t think about things too much, you just

Zealand go out and you play and you play with freedom,’’ he said.

‘‘As a 19-year-old, you don’t really know much different, so you play with that freedom and that naivety, then the older you get, you get more experienced and you start to rely on previous experiences, and at times you probably over-think things, because you have played for a while and you think a lot more about the game.

Southee played in 19 of the Black Caps’ 21 matches during the summer just gone, controversially missing the third test against Australia in Sydney at the start of January, where he was rested despite being eager to play, then the ODI at the same ground in March in front of empty stands, a match that turned out to be the season finale.

While no longer an automatic pick in the 50-over format, as has been the case since the World Cup last winter, his prospects in Twenty20 remain strong – leading the side seven times out of 10 last summer, when Williamson was absent – and he’s clearly at the top of his game in test cricket.

Having Boult and Neil Wagner to form a consistent trio has helped in recent years, and those three veterans now have youngster Kyle Jamieson, who took nine wickets in the India tests, to keep them on their toes. The Black Caps have been reaping the rewards of Southee’s durability and will hope to do so for a while yet.

‘‘I pride myself on my fitness . . . Hopefully I can – touch wood – stay injury free and play for a few more years to come.’’ Tim Southee, right