Tim Southee anticipates an interesting time for England under Brendon McCullum as the team preparations to play the defending champions of the World Test Championship at Lord’s.
The opening game of a three-match series will take place on Thursday, and it will be Brendon McCullum’s debut Test as coach of England. The hosts of the series are anticipating him to revive England’s reputation with the red ball in the very same way that he did when he was skipper of his own country.
McCullum was somewhat of a surprising pick to follow Chris Silverwood given his amount of experience teaching with the red-ball, but he’ll be dealing with a skipper who has a similar attitude in the newly-appointed Ben Stokes. England are presently on a poor run of one victory in 17 Tests.
It will be an exciting brand of cricket, I’m sure: Southee
“It’s exciting, obviously a great challenge for Brendon. He’s a great man-manager and he loves to try to get the best out of people. I’m sure he’ll be doing that here as well. The way he played his cricket was exciting, and fearless, and that’s the way he is a person and I’m sure that’s the way he is as a coach as well. It will be an exciting brand of cricket, I’m sure. They (England) won’t die wondering I’d imagine if the way he goes about things is anything to go by”, said Southee
Southee, who has grabbed 338 wickets in 85 Tests, added that he anticipated McCullum to translate the attributes that enabled him a powerful batter and outstanding leader into his job as an England captain.
McCullum’s commitment and the manner in which New Zealand got to play their white-ball cricket served as the impetus for a transformation in England’s framework to white-ball cricket, which resulted in England winning their first men’s 50-over World Cup in 2019 by defeating New Zealand in an exciting Super Oval final at Lord’s.
When questioned what it was all about NZ cricket that England found so interesting, Southee said, “I guess in New Zealand we’ve learnt to box above our weight for a long period of time. We’re obviously challenged with just being a small country, the lack of people playing and lack of resource. Just the Kiwi way is to muck in and get the best out of what we’ve got. That’s not going to change, we’re not all of a sudden going to have a lot of pool to choose from”, said the 33-year-old.
“I think it’s just about making the most of what we’ve got. Sometimes less is more as well. And I think it’s in our DNA to try, not only the cricket side, as Kiwis is to just enjoy it and make the most of what we’ve got”, he concluded.
