Tim Southee said he would never forget his “incredible journey” after the New Zealand great yesterday confirmed he had retired fully from international cricket.
Southee said he would “fade out” a happy man after taking two wickets in his 107th and final Test, a 423-run drubbing of England in Hamilton.
The 36-year-old swing bowler then revealed he would also play no more limited-overs matches for his country, ending a record-breaking 17 years across all three formats.
Photo: AFP
“It’s time for these young guys,” Southee said. “We’ve seen a number of them come through in the last couple of years and I’m excited to sit back and watch them continue to take this team forward. I’ve lived it for so long. So yeah, I’ll be done.”
Southee’s 391 wickets is second only to Richard Hadlee in the New Zealand Test cricket history books, but Southee stands alone for total New Zealand international wickets, with 776 since his debut in 2008.
He is the only player globally to take more than 300 wickets in Tests, 200 in one-day internationals (221) and 100 in Twenty20 internationals (164), with the T20 figure the most by any player.
Photo: AFP
Southee said he would pursue playing opportunities in professional T20 leagues, but had decided a Test at his home ground of Seddon Park was the best way to sign off for New Zealand.
“Test cricket’s the pinnacle for me and it’s pretty special to win by 400-odd runs against a brilliant opposition,” he said. “It’s a nice way to fade out after what’s been an incredible journey.”
Southee said he would not miss the training schedule of international cricket.
“I’ll certainly enjoy a Christmas at home with the family,” he said. “They’ve been few and far between over the last how many years.”
Meanwhile in Brisbane, Australia, India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep pulled off an unlikely 10th-wicket partnership to avoid the follow-on and put the third Test against Australia on course for a draw.
When the pair came together the tourists still needed 33 runs to make Australia bat again at the Gabba on another day marred by rain delays.
However, under gloomy skies and with rain about, the two saw off Australia’s much-vaunted pace attack to frustrate the home side on day four.
Deep scored the crucial runs with an edge to the boundary just past the outstretched hand of Nathan McSweeney off Australian captain Pat Cummins.
He celebrated two balls later by smashing Cummins over deep mid-wicket for a massive six before umpires took them from the field for bad light.
Deep was unbeaten on 27, with Bumrah on 10, the tailenders having pushed India to 252 for nine, still 193 runs behind Australia’s first innings 445.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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