A lot of guys with out-and-out raw pace don’t have control, Mayank Yadav looks to have both: Tim Southee Premium

New Zealand's Tim Southee discusses captaincy, Boult partnership, Indian pace bowlers, and the future of Test cricket.

New Zealand has always produced outstanding swing bowlers — the country’s finest, Richard Hadlee, ranks among the greatest fast-bowlers of all time. Tim Southee has also been remarkably successful and durable, after making his international debut way back in 2008. He played his 100th Test against Australia at Christchurch last month. The New Zealand Test captain, who has 380 Test, 221 ODI and 157 T20I wickets, spoke to The Hindu over the phone from Hamilton. Excerpts:

Not too many pace bowlers — bowlers of any style, in fact —  have captained in Test cricket. How has the experience been for you?

I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I worked closely with Brendon McCullum when he was captain and then Kane Williamson when he was captain. And I think for most sides there is also a leadership group that does a lot of the stuff. And I have been lucky to have Kane and Tom Latham, two guys that have both captained the side. I enjoy thinking about the game and yes, captaincy can also be challenging at times.

New Zealand is placed third on the ICC World Test Championship table at the moment. How do you assess your team’s chances of making the final?

We are obviously sitting in a pretty good position. We have got some tough matches coming up in the subcontinent. This is a big year with a lot of Test cricket, it is going to be tough.

You have with Trent Boult formed one of cricket’s finest new-ball partnerships of all time.

We have played a lot of cricket together. We played age-group cricket, domestic cricket, and played all three formats for New Zealand for over 10 years together. We have a pretty good friendship. We knew each other very well. We know each other’s game pretty well, so I think we complement each other extremely well.