Southee pleased to be back in the wickets
Tim Southee says he didn’t have a point to prove on Wednesday night, when he returned to the Black Caps’ Twenty20 team after spending most of the recent oneday series against India on the sideline.
Opening the bowling, he took a wicket and conceded just two runs from his first two overs, setting the tone for a dominant performance that resulted in an 80-run win.
Southee finished with 3-17 from his four overs, taking three wickets in a limited overs international for the first time since January last year.
The second of three T20s comes at a sold-out Eden Park in Auckland tonight, and as the team arrived from Wellington yesterday, Southee said he was glad to have played his part in putting the Black Caps 1-0 up.
‘‘I’ve felt like I’ve been bowling well in the nets and it was just about transferring that form in the nets to a game.’’
While he has featured in both T20s, Southee has played in just three of the Black Caps’ eight ODIs so far this year, fewer than Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry, who have played in five, and Trent Boult, who has played in seven, with Boult the only seamer who can safely say he is in coach Gary Stead’s first-choice XI.
With the World Cup in England in June approaching fast, and just three more ODIs before then, Stead doesn’t have a lot of time left to explore his options, and Southee doesn’t have a lot of time to show what he’s got, though he does have experience on his side.
The 30-year-old said yesterday he hasn’t been at his best with the white ball for a while, with a lack of wickets the obvious failing.
So far this year, he’s picked up three in his three ODI outings, while Henry and Ferguson have seven and nine respectively in their five, and Boult is in a class of his own with 15 in his seven.
Southee will have to use the remaining T20 matches in Auckland and Hamilton to help state his case, and if he continues to bowl like he did on Wednesday, with good pace and movement, it will be a strong one.
Tonight’s match follows the second match of the women’s Twenty20 series between the White Ferns and India, which the hosts lead 1-0 after a stunning fightback on Wednesday.