Tim Southee is eyeing two major milestones as he prepares to don the whites for the Blackcaps for the last time in his red-ball international career. Southee, who turned 36 on Wednesday, will be playing the last Test of his career against England at his home ground Seddon Park in Hamilton. The match will begin on Saturday, November 14.
While Southee has nothing to prove to anyone, he can finish his Test career with two big records to his credit. Southee needs 11 more scalps to complete 400 wickets in Test cricket. If the right-arm pacer gets there, he'll become only the second Kiwi with 400 Test wickets or more after Sir Richard Hadlee (431 wickets).
Most wickets in Test cricket
Player | Wickets |
Muttiah Muralidaran | 800 |
Shane Warne | 708 |
James Anderson | 704 |
Anil Kumble | 619 |
Stuart Broad | 604 |
Glenn McGrath | 563 |
R Ashwin | 537 |
Nathan Lyon | 532 |
Courtney Walsh | 529 |
Dale Steyn | 439 |
Kapil Dev | 434 |
Rangana Herath | 433 |
Sir Richard Hadlee | 431 |
Shaun Pollock | 421 |
Harbhajan Singh | 417 |
Wasim Akram | 414 |
Curtly Ambrose | 405 |
Makhaya Ntini | 390 |
Tim Southee | 389 |
While taking 11 wickets in one game may look slightly improbable given how Southee has performed in Tests recently, he can certainly hit five sixes if he gets a hit in the middle and become the second Kiwi with 100 or more sixes in Test cricket history.
Southee has 95 sixes to his credit and five more will help him leapfrog Jacques Kallis and Chris Gayle. If he gets to 100 sixes, he'll equal Adam Gilchrist's tally and be only behind Brendon McCullum (107) and Ben Stokes (133).
Most sixes in Test cricket
Player | Sixes |
Ben Stokes | 133 |
Brendon McCullum | 107 |
Adam Gilchrist | 100 |
Chris Gayle | 98 |
Jacques Kallis | 97 |
Tim Southee | 95 |
Virender Sehwag | 91 |
Rohit Sharma | 88 |
Angelo Mathews | 88 |
Brian Lara | 88 |