Tim Southee’s Take a look at debut from 2008 retains an alluring and unprecedented Take a look at file.
But it surely was not his maiden five-wicket haul in his first bowling innings towards the Englishmen that took the highlight. He’d make any facet for his doggedness with the ball however Southee had hinted at his willow-wielding expertise in solely his second hit with the bat. Smashing an unbeaten 77 in an eventual 121-run defeat, Southee carved three main highlights that day in Napier.
His 40-ball 77* at No. 10 continues to be his highest Take a look at rating. The 9 sixes he walloped are nonetheless the best by any No. September 11 batter in Take a look at cricket. They’re additionally essentially the most by a debutant in Take a look at historical past.
Sixteen years later towards India in Bengaluru, Southee exemplified that he’s simply as nice with the bat as he was then, getting into an elite record of Take a look at cricket’s best six-hitters.
Outrunning Sehwag
On Friday, Southee biffed previous the marauding Virender Sehwag’s 91-sixes mark in his 103rd Take a look at along with his second six batting at No. 9, which developed as his most favoured place since his formative days.
A extra jaw-dropping measure can be the variety of deliveries confronted. It took the maverick Sehwag 10,234 deliveries to get to 91 sixes. Southee stormed to the mark in solely 2606 balls! Six deliveries later, he smote one other, propelling him over Sehwag to the sixth spot among the many format’s highest six-hitters.
| Participant | Inns | Balls confronted | SR | 6s | Balls per six |
| Ben Stokes | 192 | 10974 | 59.65 | 131 | 83.77 |
| Brendon McCullum | 176 | 9989 | 64.6 | 107 | 93.35 |
| Adam Gilchrist | 137 | 6796 | 81.95 | 100 | 67.96 |
| Chris Gayle | 182 | 11970 | 60.26 | 98 | 122.1 |
| Jacques Kallis | 280 | 28903 | 45.97 | 97 | 297.96 |
| Tim Southee | 148 | 2637 | 82.66 | 93 | 28.35 |
| Virender Sehwag | 180 | 10441 | 82.23 | 91 | 114.736 |
Take a look at cricket’s greatest No. 9?
Maybe you could possibly often low cost that he’s nonetheless the one pacer to play 100 matches in all codecs and is New Zealand’s highest worldwide wicket-taker. However one can not transfer previous the truth that he’s arguably Take a look at cricket’s most entertaining ‘No. 9’. He’s second on the run charts (1240) for the slot, solely behind Stuart Broad (1388). His common may be middling round 15 however Southee is greater than twice as lethal because the next-best six-hitter at No. 9. 49 of his 93 sixes have come within the slot, with a six each 33 balls.
| Quickest to 90 sixes (balls confronted) |
| 2606 – Tim Southee |
| 6220 – Adam Gilchrist |
| 8775 – Ben Stokes |
| 9288 – Brendon McCullum |
| 10156 – Virender Sehwag |
| 11570 – Chris Gayle |
| 27149 – Jacques Kallis |
Although there have been extra pronounced daredevils within the trendy period, like Rishabh Pant who smacked a six off solely the second supply he confronted on debut, Southee’s consistency has taken him over a major checkpoint. He ranks second amongst tail-enders (8-11) within the World Take a look at Championship period since 2019, his 18 maximums solely bettered by Pat Cummins (19) and Alzarri Joseph (19).
Southee summoned his seventh Take a look at fifty on Friday, ending with 65 off 73 balls, and moved as much as 93 maximums, irritating India along with his enterprising 137-run stand for the eighth wicket with Rachin Ravindra.
A particular hundred isn’t distant however it’s a gorgeous spotlight that Southee is the quickest to have ever crossed 90 maximums, buying the very best balls per six/ratio of the seven batters who’ve hit the mark. He takes solely 28.3 balls per most, miles forward of the next-best Adam Gilchrist (67.96). The duo are the 2 quickest batters to slam the 90-sixes mark. However practically 4000 deliveries separated Southee and Gilchrist after they reached the feat of their respective careers.
Although he could have the leverage of slogging extra freely than most completed Take a look at top-order batters, Southee has additionally notably outperformed most attacking lower-order bats on the six-hitting entrance.
| Most Take a look at sixes batting No. 6-10 | |||||
| Participant | Inns | Runs | Balls | 6s | Bp6 |
| Tim Southee | 147 | 2180 | 2635 | 93 | 28.33 |
| Adam Gilchrist | 126 | 5074 | 6190 | 93 | 66.59 |
| Ben Stokes | 130 | 4309 | 6880 | 83 | 82.89 |
| Chris Cairns | 99 | 3205 | 5643 | 81 | 69.66 |
| Andrew Flintoff | 127 | 3709 | 6056 | 78 | 77.64 |
| MS Dhoni | 139 | 4717 | 8023 | 75 | 106.97 |
Each Gilchrist and Southee have struck 93 sixes batting between No. 6-11 in Assessments – essentially the most amongst all batters. Whereas Southee strikes a six each 28 balls, it took Gilchrist greater than double the variety of deliveries (66.8) to ship the ball over the ropes. Southee even trumps bludgeoners like Shahid Afridi (37.94) and Pant (56.4) on Bp6 ratio.
Most definitely now, the 35-year-old Kiwi can place his unlikely batting heroics amongst his greatest bowling laurels in Take a look at cricket and end his profession as certainly one of its most profitable sluggers.