Tim Southee: Journey From Rookie To Cricketer

Tim Southee played rugby as a kid in his school days. He represented Auckland Secondary School and Northern Region in rugby. He won Auckland 1A in 2005, the first time his school won in five-six decades.

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New Zealand pacer Tim Southee has emerged as one of the leading cricketers in the world. He is currently shouldering the responsibility of the New Zealand cricket team as a captain in Tests.

Born in Whangārei, New Zealand on 11 December 1988, Southee got involved in sports at a young age. He was attracted to athleticism since he was a kid. However, it was not cricket that first caught his fancy. He started his sporting journey with rugby.

Tim Southee: The Plunge From Rugby To Cricket

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Tim Southee played rugby as a kid in his school days. He represented Auckland Secondary School and Northern Region in rugby. He won Auckland 1A in 2005, the first time his school won in five-six decades.

After the end of his schooldays, Southee bid adieu to Rugby and shifted his attention to cricket. The Kiwi’s transition from rugby to cricket was smooth as his athleticism that he honed on the rugby pitch came handy on the cricket field.

Southee made his first-class debut for Northern Districts in 2007 and grabbed eyeballs for his versatile performance. He then represented Zealand from 2006 to 2009 in under-19 cricket, playing 13 one-day matches, and three-match Youth Test series.

From Rookie To Cricketer, Sporting Journey Of Tim Southee

Tests

The fast bowler made his Test debut for the New Zealand cricket team on 22 March 2008 against England. With this, he became one of the youngest cricketers to represent the Black Caps at the age of 19. He has played 100 Test matches and taken 380 wickets in the red-ball format. He became the third New Zealand bowler to take 300 Test wickets.  He is close to registering his name in the 400-club in which only 17 bowlers in the history of test cricket have reached. Southee has also shone with his batting talent, scoring over 1000 runs in Test cricket for a tail-ender.

ODIs

Tim Southee received his maiden ODI cap on 15 June 2008 against England. He has taken 221 wickets in 161 matches in One Day Internationals.  His 7 for 33 bowling figure against England in World Cup 2015 has been the highlight of his ODI performance.

Tim Southee: Journey From Rookie To Cricketer

T20Is

The Black Cap played his first T20 International on 5 February 2008 against England. Since then has taken 164 wickets in 126 matches.  His 5/18 against Pakistan at Auckland on December  26,  2010 is his best bowling figure so far in the shortest format of the game.

Also Read: Cricketers Who Started as Bowlers But Turned into Legendary Batsmen

Captaincy

On 29 December 2017, Tim Southee made his T20I captaincy debut against West Indies as a stand-in skipper  and won the match. Southee made ODI captaincy debut for New Zealand on 28 February against England. Southee was named the full time Test captain of the Black Caps in December 2022 after Kane Williamson stepped down from the role. After Kane Williamson stepped down as the Test captain of the New Zealand cricket team, Southee took charge as the skipper.