The 32-year-old pacer has been in very good form having bowled four overs in all six of New Zealand’s games and taking at least one wicket on every occasion.
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New Zealand pacer Tim Southee has been unfazed about the perception of his side as underdogs despite their resounding success in the ICC tournaments in recent years. Beaten finalists in the 2015 and 2019 50-over World Cups and were crowned inaugural winners of the World Test championship after defeating India in the final at Lords. Although the BlachkCaps didn’t have a great start to the T20 World Cup, losing to Pakistan in the opening match of the Super 12 stage, they bounced back to defeat India by 8 wickets in the next game.
And then, convincingly defeated Scotland, Namibia and Afghanistan to qualify for the semi-finals as runner-ups from Group 2. In the semi-final, Kane Williamson-led team overcame the heavily fancied England to book a place in the final against the mighty Australia.
“You hear all the outside noise, but as a group, we just try and stay pretty level. We don’t beat ourselves up if we lose a game,” Southee admitted.
“Look at the first game against Pakistan, we weren’t too far off, we didn’t try and reinvent the wheel, we just knew we had to make small adjustments and improve in certain areas.
“We’ve assessed the conditions reasonably well. We’ve had to chop and change between venues, day games and night games, but as a whole, we’ve been pretty consistent and quick in adapting.
“We’ve done that throughout the tournament. One of the strengths of the side is just to stay level in everything we do, but we’ve definitely been a lot more consistent in world events, especially.”
The Aussies, who have won five ODI World Cup’s, have surprisingly not got their hands on a T20 showpiece.
“Australia have been a very strong side for a long time,” added Southee. “We haven’t played them in a final since 2015 but – I know they weren’t at full strength – we beat them in a T20 series not so long ago.
Meanwhile Southee has been in very good form in the T20 World Cup. The 32-year-old pacer has bowled four overs in all six of New Zealand’s games, taking at least one wicket on every occasion. His most expensive spell cost only 26 runs against India and across the world cup his economy rate has been just 5.75 despite the fact that he bowls most of his overs during powerplay.
“We know they’re a dangerous side but it’s a final, anything can happen. I don’t think there’s any fear, we’ve played against some quality opposition throughout the tournament.
“They’re very similar to the England line-up where they’ve got dangerous batters throughout, but as a bowler you want to challenge yourself against the best and Australia have got plenty of quality players.”
Considering how both Australia and New Zealand won their respective semi-finals against a much-fancied and in form opponents, one can expect another enthralling encounter.
