Playing 100 Test matches for your country is a matter of great pride when only four people from your country have achieved the monumental feat, it becomes even more special, when Tim Southee will walk in the second Test against Australia; He will become the 5th player from his country to do so, making the moment memorable, his longtime teammate Kane Williamson will also play his 100th Test in the same game. We look at the long journey and how the Kiwi captain became one of the finest ever from his country.

Childhood and Cricket Career

Born on 11th December, 1988 in Whangarei, Timothy Grant Southee was the youngest child of Murry and Joanne Southee. 

He followed both cricket and rugby as he grew up. In fact, while studying at Whangarei Boys’ High School, he was in the school team of both the sports. 

He played representative rugby for the Auckland Secondary School and Northern Region teams. 

But when time came to decide on one sport, Southee picked cricket over rugby. And once he decided he wanted to play cricket for the rest of his life, the dream of winning the national cap burned brighter than ever.

U19 Cricket World Cup and Youth Tests

As he soared in success in age group cricket, his name started circling among New Zealand selectors, and they decided to select him for the U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006. 

A 17-year-old Tim Southee found out that international cricket was not all easy; he picked only 5 wickets at 38.8, and the BlackCaps’s campaign ended with a loss against Nepal.  

Stacked against odds, Southee bounced back next season, this time in a youth Test series against India. 

It was a series in which young Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Ravindra Jadeja, and many more future Test stars, played against each other. 

The second Test at Carisbrook, Dunedin, saw New Zealand pair Tim Southee and Trent Boult, both 18 and 17 respectively, blow Indian youngsters away, thereby registering a remarkable victory, after their side was out for only 100 in the first innings. Southee and Boult shared 18 wickets between them, from which the definitive hero of Kiwi Cricket  finished with 12 wickets in the match (36-6 and 56-6). 

The series took place in January 2007 and helped raise Southee’s stocks.

On 5th February 2008, at the age of 19 years and 57 days, he played his first international match—a T20 international for the national team. 

Things happened rapidly for Southee; a couple of weeks later, he was playing in the U19 World Cup in Malaysia and was adjudged player of the tournament for his sensational bowling (17 wickets in 5 matches).

Test Debut

The U19 World Cup success earned Southee his Test call against England. 

On 22nd March 2008, the right arm medium pacer played his played his first Test at Napier. Southee picked 5-55 and made a swashbuckling 77 off just 40 balls, which comprised 9 sixes. 

Two months later, he picked up 13 wickets in a five match ODI series in England at just 18.23. Commendable achievement in every which way. 

Things, however, were not easy for Southee in initial years. Between March 2008 to July 2012, Southee had 42 wickets in 17 Tests at an average of 44.76.

This was a period of struggle that wasn’t defined by much success. 

In one-day internationals, Southee was a different bowler and had enormous success, picking 82 wickets at 31.09 in 60 matches.

The arrival and India connection 

Southee’s career came on the track, and at both times- it happened in India. 

The ODI career saw resurgence in the 2011 World Cup, a tournament where he picked 18 wickets in 8 matches at 17.33. 

A year and a half later, he was drafted in for the Bangalore Test, where he picked 7-64; this was the moment that turned his career, and he was a changed Test match bowler. 

During the next three years, he picked up 102 wickets in 24 matches, at an impressive average of 26.22. 

He also had a memorable World Cup at home in 2015. 

He picked 7-33 against England at Wellington to ensure a memorable win.

Milestone galore

In January 2017, Tim Southee reached the 200 Test wicket milestone; he had taken his 100th against the West Indies in 2013 at Hamilton. By this time, he was being rated as one of the best in the world.

Part of New Zealand’s greatest team

The BlackCaps had some great players, but unfortunately, they didn’t play in the same era. 

However, post-2013, for the first time, it looked as though there BlackCaps had several world beating names playing at the same time. 

Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, Tom Latham, and BJ Watling played in the same team, which could be termed as the golden generation of New Zealand cricket. 

The results were evident with them sealing four final berths between 2015 to 2021.

The biggest moment of career

While the BlackCaps lost the 2015, 2019 and 2021 World Cup finals (first two being 50 overs and the third being T20), the World Test Championship 2019’s final also called as Test World Cup final could be termed as the biggest moment in Tim Southee’s career as well as his team’s cricketing history. 

The Blackcaps were crowned as Test World Cup Champions (2021-2023) for the first time ever in their 91-year-old Test history. 

Southee bowled 41 overs and had figures of 112 runs for 5 wickets.

Southee has never been affected by the conditions. In November 2021, he picked 144-8 in a test match at Kanpur. 

He took over Test captaincy from Kane Williamson and has performed admirably at both fronts: bowling and captaincy. 

After leading New Zealand with three Test wins in 2022–23, he led them to a Test win in Bangladesh and, earlier this month, a 2-0 historic victory over South Africa. 

The Test series victory over the Proteas was BlackCaps’s first ever Test series win over the Proteas.

Partnership with Trent Boult and Neil Wagner

Any piece of content on Southee without mention of Trent Boult is incomplete; both of them have played with each other right from their age group days and complement one other very well. 

While Southee is a master of seam and swing, Boult has mastery of both: swing and out swing. 

The duo has been a formidable pair for almost 13 years now. 

The recent retiree Neil Wagner became the part of the now world-recognised trio from 2013 onwards and the trio has formed a daunting pace attack. 

The partnership ended with Trent Boult deciding to opt to play in T20 leagues and thereby quitting the New Zealand central contract and almost certainly ending his 78 Test career. Neil Wagner retired last week; he played 64 Tests and picked 260 wickets. 

Future ahead?  

Tim Southee will play his 100th Test alongside a luminary of his team: Kane Williamson at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch. 

While Southee is 35, he can achieve a number of milestones, if he can play for another two years at the very least given his fitness has never betrayed him.

Besides being part of the six Kiwi players to have played a milestone in 100 Tests, he also has claimed 221 wickets in 161 ODI’s, which ranks him as the third-all-time leading wicket takers for New Zealand. 

He was the first ever bowler in the history of cricket to have 150 wickets in all the three formats (Test, ODI and T20 internationals). 

However, a feat, in particular, that he would love to achieve would be Sir Richard Hadlee’s all time Test records for the BlackCaps. Southee currently has 378 wickets in 99 Tests, while Hadlee sits at the top with 431 wickets in 86 Tests.

Whatever the future holds for the senior statesman of the BlackCaps, he would love to enjoy the remaining time in the game, like he has done in his sixteen year international career.