New Zealand has tasted success on the back of pacer Tim Southee’s five-wicket haul in the first session and they bundled out India for 345 runs. Later, the Kiwi openers stitched an unbeaten 129-run stand to put them on top on Day 2 of the Kanpur Test as well.
The experienced pace bowler, however, has said that rigorous training with old balls and the eagerness to get success help him do well on the subcontinents. While addressing the press at the end of play on Day 2, Tim Southee said: “I have been fortunate to come to this part of the world as a youngster. Learnt a lot from those trips early on in my career. Like I said, just the hunger to get better. Each time you go and represent your country and and looking at different ways to learn and get better throughout as well.”
The New Zealand pacer further added: “The main skill is swinging the new ball, but a lot more training with the older ball and looking at different ways to take wickets (over the past three four years), and same here in the subcontinent conditions.”
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Tim Southee, who claimed his 13th five-wicket haul in 80 Test matches, has two fifers in India as well. The 32-year-old pace bowler also overcame a groin injury overnight to deliver a stunning spell in the Kanpur Test as well. However, he successfully broke a 121-run stand between Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer in the first session of Day 2, finishing the spell with the figures of 5/69.
“I’m not too sure exactly. But maybe it’s just a shift I made without really really knowing but obviously training and working a lot harder with with an older ball. So just that shift that training because you end up bowling with the old ball more and when it swings I think that’s my main skill. It’s just about asking tough questions for long periods of time,” Tim Southee said.
He again shared: “It was a great day for us and we knew we probably had to make early inroads with the new ball, slightly harder, and the two guys (Iyer and Jadeja) that were were playing nicely. Asked to bowl first, it was a pretty solid performance. The way our openers have gone about, it’s been been exceptional.”
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“We’ve come to terms with what Tom Latham can do but for someone like Will Young who hasn’t played any cricket all this while since the World Test Championship final, for him to go out and play the way he’s played, it’s been been great to watch as well,” he said.
“Spin is going to play a massive part throughout the series like it does in this part of the world. But our seamers have been been a pillar for this side for a long time. The way Kyle [Jamieson] has taken up to Test cricket, very pleased to see him bowling first time in this part of the world. To be able to bowl the way he did is great signs for us as well,” Tim Southee concluded.
