England Earns Ex-New Zealand Pacer For ‘Special Consultant’ Role

England, just before the start of their one-off red-ball clash against Zimbabwe to start the home summer, signed the former New Zealand pacer, Tim Southee, on a short-term deal.

He replaces the former pacer of the side, James Anderson, in his coaching staff role across formats, from next week’s Test match at Trent Bridge.

Brendon McCullum’s close bond with Tim Southee

Southee, who retired from the longest format at the end of their 2-1 series defeat at home in December after a 16-year career, has earned the national record of 776 wickets across three formats.

In that period of his career, Southee was a huge part under Brendon McCullum’s leadership for the Kiwis on 170 occasions, 78 of which came under his captaincy. He also shared the field with the veteran at the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Middlesex in the T20 blast.

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McCullum presented Southee a bottle of red wine signed by all the England players at the end of the pacer’s 107th and the final fixture of the longest format at Seddon Park in Hamilton.

Southee was one of the smartest pacers for the Blackcaps, with a long career being injury-free. His performance has been excellent over the years, and that will be huge for the national side.

England signs Tim Southee as a special skills consultant

As the ECB has revealed, his official title will be the specialist skills consultant. However, his appointment is for the like-for-like replacement of the Burley-boy, who took his broad international experience of 21 years straight into the coaching just a week after his Lord’s farewell against the West Indies last July.

“Former New Zealand international Tim Southee has joined the ECB as a Specialist Skills Consultant for the England Men’s teams on a short-term basis. With his vast experience of playing in a wide range of conditions around the world and across all formats, he brings valuable insight and knowledge to the players.” The official statement from the ECB added.

Meanwhile, this summer, the equation is a little different. Anderson is looking to prioritize the season-long deal to play for the Lancashire side, for whom he could make an appearance later this month after recovering from the calf injury.

Southee will be part of the England coaching side for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, from May 22, and the white-ball series against the West Indies. The lanky pacer will be part of the dressing room for the entire five-match red-ball series against India in June and July.

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His stint will conclude just after the fifth game at the Kennington Oval in South London on August 04, at which point, he will resume his playing career with the Birmingham Phoenix in the Men’s Hundred season.

England pacers aim to gain experience from veteran Tim Southee

Due to being just a one-off Test, the board has selected only five red-ball bowlers in the side. Gus Atkinson, who had an incredible summer last year against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, will be looking to partner one of Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue with the new ball.

Sam Cook, the Essex pacer, who missed their last county game to be fully fresh for the Test match, could get his maiden cap for the clash. Shoaib Bashir is the only regular spinner on the side, with Ben Stokes likely to add the pace bowling options.

All these England pacers will be tempted to gain vital experience from their new consultant and channel it to their progress in the format.