Take a moment to ponder where Aotearoa's Blackcaps are at right now with their good vibes and where we have come from in terms of viewing the national cricket team. Over the past 20 years, there have been great moments, great players and various weird moments or even periods where no one really gave two hoots about what the Blackcaps were up to. All of which has led the Blackcaps and us kiwi cricket fans to this moment where everything is tremendous with one common factor throughout he growth of the Blackcaps being Tim Southee.

Snatching his 300th Test wicket in the first Test vs Pakistan, Southee hit a milestone that serves as a quick reminder of what he has done. Cricket loves individual milestones and most of this current Blackcaps couldn't give two hoots themselves as they represent the Aotearoa sport status-quo of team-first ideals, being a good comrade and all of that. For someone like Southee who has been on this Blackcaps journey for a while, such a milestone saw everyone take a moment to light one up for the Northland trooper.

Ross Taylor feels like the most senior Blackcap by a hefty margin right? Taylor made his Test debut in November 2007 and that is the earliest Test debut for the current group, although a couple months later Southee made his debut against England in March, 2008. Taylor has the earliest First-Class debut back in 2002/3, while Southee made his FC debut in early 2007 and that was soon followed by Kane Williamson's FC debut in late 2007 before Trent Boult creeped into the pro ranks in mid-2008.

Guess who made their FC debuts before all except Taylor though? Neil Wagner made his FC debut in South Africa back in 2006 and the almighty BJ Watling forced me deep into the mangroves as he made his FC debut in 2004 against an Auckland Aces top-order of Mark Richardson, Richard Jones, Matt Horne and Lou Vincent.

Take that as a key note that what we are enjoying now with the Blackcaps was a seed planted back in that 2004-08 range. This is about Southee though and while Southee didn't play under the captaincy of Stephen Fleming, Southee did play alongside Fleming and played with/under some of Aotearoa's best captains who were also exceptional players; Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson.

I have vivid memories of Southee and Vettori always kickin' it together in the viewing room, chucking up an interesting perception of Southee. Maybe it was how Southee batted and not appearing to want to do anything but tonk it to all parts, or maybe being so good at cricket that it kinda looked as though Southee didn't care too much - I don't know. It just felt as though Southee was too cool, yet he was always there with Vettori and Blackcaps kaumatua, soaking up wisdom.

All of which is manifested in Southee being a leader of the current Blackcaps group and again, perhaps this points to a interesting perception of Southee. Even as the Blackcaps grew into an Aotearoa favourite team, Southee felt as though he was viewed as a really good swing bowler who could have done more with the bat. Take away the bat and ball from Southee and the reality is that Southee is involved in every aspect of Blackcaps cricket, from talking through plans with Williamson and Taylor to being a regular third-slipper, sometimes second slip when the stars align.

Southee doesn't just bowl and you'll struggle to find a Blackcaps Test player who contributes to the on-field antics as much as Southee, which flows into off-field business and the team culture. The easy thing is to point at one bloke for brewing this Blackcaps team culture and it's obviously far more nuanced as you can't develop a team culture with an idea or intention; you need folks who will live it out every day.

You can see on the field how Southee keeps everyone in check - last week I noted that Southee told Wagner to chill out while fielding. It smacks you in the face that Southee loves cricket, loves playing cricket for Aotearoa and that is shared among the other leaders and players. However, Southee's the big bro and all that he soaked up from his past 12-13 years of Test cricket is evident in how Southee operates. In this current environment, I reckon Williamson can be his mellow self due to characters such as Southee leading the group in a different way.

We have heard a lot about how the team has resembled its leader, predominantly with McCullum and Williamson. That overlooks the players or ingredients that have always been present and grown with the team, which when you consider how Taylor's captaincy was snatched away, puts Southee in a unique position. Southee has played under all these great captains and experienced some very strange pockets, while never being viewed as a key figure or someone who is instrumental in the team staying even-keeled.

Southee averages 34.51 in ODI cricket, averaging 40+ in three of his last four years. Southee has averaged over 30 in every year of ODI cricket since 2012 and this is a delightful reflection of how Southee is viewed as Southee is still one of the most influential Aotearoa ODI bowlers. Chatting about athletes and athletics means that a different weight is placed on what you do on the big stage and Southee sparked all that up with 17w @ 6.64avg/2.52rpo in the 2008 Under 19 World Cup when Aotearoa made the semi-finals.

Southee was second in total wickets. Since then, Southee has played three ODI World Cups and has 34 wickets @ 25.11avg/5.26rpo. Not quite Trent Boult status, although Southee has right there with Boult in World Cups and low key most impressive is his 2011 World Cup in India where Southee was the only seamer not from Asia with 15+ wickets (of seven bowlers). Southee finished third in wickets with 18w @ 17.33avg/4.31rpo, India's Zaheer Khan was the only seamer with a better record.

More recently, Southee's ODI work as been off-set by his T20I work and having played his first T20I back in 2008, Southee has settled into a four-year groove consistently averaging in the mid-20s. A good marker for T20I bowling is a strike-rate of 20 and Southee has a career strike-rate of 18.4 over 75 games as well as a highly respectable career average of 25.95. The trend here is that Southee isn't an excessively dominant force and is instead a cornerstorne of Aotearoa's bowling group, a leader as well as someone who can cruise through formats and find ways to help out.

Which brings us to Test cricket, where Southee has become more of a dominant force in recent years. Southee started his Test career with four years in a row averaging 35+ in each year, resulting in Southee averaging 42.80 between 2008-11 and most importantly, Southee averaged a relatively whopping 37.73 in Aotearoa during that period.

Between 2011-17, Southee was better than the previous period without being ruthless. Southee averaged 29.59 in that window, while in Aotearoa Southee averaged 28.09.

In the last three years (2017-20) Southee's average drops down to 23.40 and that's funky because it is largely dependent on Southee playing in Aotearoa (17 Tests @ 23.44avg).

In Aotearoa, Southee averages 26.65 and across 44 Tests. Away from Aotearoa, Southee's average is 29.16 in 33 Tests and the difference between those averages is integral to judging Southee as he is almost as good overseas as he is in Aotearoa.

The joy of the past few years has been Southee's ability to move the ball both ways and there is an obvious correlation between this skillset and his success in recent years. Having moved down from Whangarei Boys High School to Kings College during his schooling, Southee was an out-swinging monster who was utterly dominant in the Auckland scene and I imagine throughout Aotearoa at the representative level.

Southee was pretty quick back then as well and while he hasn't added any km/h to his bowling, Southee has gone from a lovely out-swinger to genuinely moving the ball both ways. This isn't unique to Southee as Boult's been pushing deliveries across right-handers for a while, James Anderson's had the ball at the end of his wizard wand for a long time and now we are seeing Kyle Jamieson make all of that look fairly easy in Aotearoa.

That's the thing about Southee as he isn't the only bloke who can move the ball both ways, just as he isn't the only bloke bowling 130km/h in Test cricket. Nor is Southee the only lower-order batsman who wants to crack sixes. Shit, Southee isn't the only bowler who can legit field in the slip cordon. The unique thing about Southee is that he does all of it and more, at a high level over a very long period of time, while also adding skills to consistently reinvent himself.

What's more unique than Southee's pure cricketing ability is that it comes with the kiwi twist. Southee himself has improved as a cricketer and appear to be super comfortable in who he is and what he offers this team. During Southee’s career, I’ve seen the Blackcaps become more comfortable in who they are and how they operate, as well as a consistent level of improvement. As the cornerstone, Southee leads the Blackcaps in every way and the past few years suggest that there is a wee bit more funk to come.

Hit an ad to support the Niche Cache. Support the Niche Cache on Patreon.

Peace and love.