‘Resting’ Tim Southee part of New Zealand’s best laid plans for future

Hence, New Zealand walked into the third Test with a fringe of changes, precisely five. While Kane Williamson, Mitchell Santner and Henry Nicholls were ruled out due to illness, Trent Boult’s hand injury had already struck him off. To cover for them Glenn Phillips was flown into Australia, Todd Astle finally got his call and Matt Henry, Jeet Raval and Will Somerville were called back. Out of these obligated changes, the ‘resting’ of Tim Southee and the consequent bestowing of captaincy duties on Tom Latham came as a bizarre surprise. This move might imply that the Kiwis have given up on the series, which they are losing 2-0, and treating this Test as a dead rubber. But in the current scenario, every Test match matters when the ongoing ICC Test Championship factor comes into play. And New Zealand need it more than ever, having lost three and won only a single game in the competition so far. The No.2 ranked team could’ve been in a better position than fifth in the points table had the home series against England been taken into account. So all of that combined, resting your strike bowler could’ve waited, right?

Agreed that the team barely shows three seamers in the ongoing SCG Test and, let me tell you, none of them are genuine strike bowlers. While Colin de Grandhomme, who by the way has done well in the series so far, is more of a catalyst, Neil Wagner is a workhouse around whom strike bowlers do their job. And who is Matt Henry, with a bowling average that is equal to Joe Root’s batting average, in Test cricket? Out of these three bowlers, only Wagner has a well-defined role. So looking at these factors, while the rest of the four changes were still understandable but dropping Southee was very unlike New Zealand, wasn’t it? 

It all comes down to how important Tim Southee is to the team now and in the future. The last four years have seen a drastic deterioration in Southee’s ODI form, but the pacer has maintained his brilliance in the shortest and longest formats. Ever since the World Cup, wherein Southee only played one game, he has played all games across formats for New Zealand. There have been too many in and outs, starting with Williamson dropping out of the Sri Lanka T20Is, which led to the transfer of captaincy duties to Southee. Only Ross Taylor is the other player who has featured in all games along with him. In fact, the seasoned pacer has played as many games as Mohammad Shami and Pat Cummins. If the team does say that they have rested Southee, then probably the paceman who has played 14 international matches since deserves rest. 

But what mattered were Gary Stead’s words who, by the way, had hinted at something ahead of the game. "We'll work and look at the developmental areas of our game, through our first-class program and our A program, and it's certainly always something that's discussed – how can we develop people that can be successful all around the world? Australia no doubt is one of the toughest places in the world to come and win,” he confessed.

Think about it, even with a full-fledged New Zealand team, without everyone in Tom Blundell-like form, would they be able to overthrow a team that’s Labuschagne-strong? Let me put it straight, what the Kiwis, even at their best, can’t beat is a Tim Paine-strong side in Australia. Perhaps, New Zealand would’ve played Southee when everyone including Kane Williamson and Trent Boult were playing, because that would’ve given them a hope of winning. Adding perspective to this, a team that has already lost too many players to injury, are saving their best for the heavy schedule up next. Now, do they seem to be as lost as you thought they are when you first started reading this piece, or do you know think that it is, in fact, their best-laid plans for the future? After all, New Zealand are scheduled to play non stop till the end of March and a validated conclusion to my point will be seen once you watch Southee feature in all of them.