Tim Southee will never be the same again after the New Zealand great announced on Tuesday he has retired from international cricket.
Southee will ” fade out” a cheerful lad after claiming two wickets in his 107th and final Test match, a 423-run demolition of England in Hamilton.
The 36-year-old swing bowler then declared that he too would not feature again for his country in limited-overs cricket after a remarkable 17 seasons in all three formats.
“Time for these young guys,” Southee said.
“We’ve had a few of them come through in the past couple years and I can’t wait to sit back and watch them keep growing this team.
“I have done it so long. So yeah, I’ll be done.”
Southee is second only to Richard Hadlee with 391 wickets in the New Zealand Test cricket record books.
But it is Southee alone for the total number of New Zealand international wickets (776), after his 2008 debut.
He is the only player in the world to have bowled more than 300 Test wickets, 200 one dayers (221), and 100 Twenty20 matches (164), T20 figures are unrivalled.
Southee will still look for playing time in professional T20 competitions but has decided a Test against his old club Seddon Park was the way to say farewell to New Zealand.
“Test cricket is the most important for me and there is nothing more special than winning by 400-odd runs against a brilliant team,” he added.
‘It’s just nice to go home at the end of an incredible journey.
“It has been an honour every time I played for New Zealand. It’s been a blast and I have 17 years of memories that I will carry with me.
Southee said he would remember most distinctly a “golden period” for New Zealand where he started on the new ball alongside Trent Boult with a threatening first-change midfielder in Neil Wagner.
The three seamers were a devastating combination for 10 years before their final World Test Championship against India at Lord’s in 2021.
It was very special to be a part of that,” Southee said.
“And to play against those two, and get pretty good friend for a long time that will also last a long time after the game is I guess, the best part of all”.
Southee won’t miss the tiring cricket world of international cricket. ‘I’ll be having Christmas at home with my family, no doubt.’ he added.
‘They’ve been few and far between in the last how many years. New Zealand cricketer Southee celebrated his presence in New Zealand on Tuesday.
“Tim is a champion, he’s a great New Zealand cricketer and a sportsman,” he said in an after-match ceremony held at Seddon Park on Tuesday for Southee’s 107th and final Test.
“Tim was very good at what he did,” he said. “The old school outswinger, the stitched seam off-cutter is Tim’s success.
“If Tim had hit 400 test wickets it would have been appropriate that Tim had to call it quits. And I thought he was due.
Many of Southee’s wickets were with the help of his illustrious strike partner for so long Trent Boult (retired this year) and bowler Brendon McCullum, on Tuesday in his role as England coach.
Southee’s Test debut against England in 2008 at Napier was an extraordinary effort in a loser’s cause, and the talisman it was when he turned 18-years-old.
The then 19-year-old struck five for 55 in England’s first innings and took 77 off 40 balls with nine sixes and four boundaries in a brazen second innings.
It was always about his big tail-end cricket, even if he fell two short of 100 career Test sixes when he batted out for two runs in his last innings on Monday.
It’s still with his tail up, new ball in hand and a platform in which to swing that he will be remembered, happy to the New Zealand cricket fans but not so keenly, I think, by his old enemies.
He has taken New Zealand to the 50-overs World Cup finals in 2015 and 2019 and they were beaten in both but Southee did capture a major title with the 2021 World Test Championship final.
He took over the Test captaincy from Kane Williamson at the end of 2022, and he guided six victories, six defeats and two draws in 14 Test matches before he passed the bat to Tom Latham in October.
“He’s just such a great servant of the game and just an awesome guy for us over the years,” Williamson said Monday.
“But not just on the field, those things are all out there, but his character and how he handled himself over his Test career.
“It’s been a big reason this team’s been pretty healthy for a while and he’s been through all of that.