Southee banks on lessons learnt in subcontinent

Southee banks on lessons learnt in subcontinent

Tim Southee has been the bright spot for New Zealand amid their ODI struggles in the recent past © Associated Press Enlarge

New Zealand's horror run of results in the subcontinent over the last year has some benefits at least. Since the tri-series with India and Sri Lanka in Dambulla in August last year, New Zealand have lost 12 of 16 ODIs in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India, the three counties hosting the World Cup. That sequence included a shattering, scene-changing 4-0 series loss to Bangladesh and a 5-0 blank-out in India.

Two of their three wins in that period have come in the World Cup, against Kenya and Zimbabwe. The one big game, against Australia, was lost by seven wickets. But the lead-up to the tournament has given the side valuable time in the middle in these conditions and Tim Southee believes, regardless of the results, it may work in their favour.

"We're lucky a majority of the side came over and we played a lot of cricket on the subcontinent in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India in the last six months," Southee said in Pallekele, ahead of the side's game with group leaders Pakistan. "Although the results didn't go our way and weren't that great we learnt a lot and we've put those wrongs and managed to learn from those poor experiences," Southee said.

Southee has been one of the few bright spots for New Zealand in that time, picking up 13 wickets in ten ODIs in the subcontinent. He has fairly extensive experience of the conditions, having played in Sri Lanka in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup. "That was a long time ago and there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then but all that experience helps. A lot of the guys have played a lot of cricket in the subcontinent to know what to do. [For fast bowlers] It depends on each wicket and how conditions are. There's times when it will swing and when it won't. It's just about being able to adapt to the conditions."

He's the side's leading wicket-taker, with seven in three games so far in the tournament; they are the numbers of a spearhead, though Southee is not so sure he is one. "You're never really safe in a side where you have guys like Kyle Mills coming back and playing the way he did was outstanding. It wasn't that long ago where he was No.1 in the world. It's good to have that competitiveness among the bowlers. That's a healthy thing but I guess your spot is never cemented in the side."

Pakistan will provide a stern test, but Southee believes there isn't much between the two sides. In the six-match ODI series just before the World Cup, Pakistan triumphed 3-2 and familiarity will aid both sides. "It was a fairly close series and in all games both teams had a chance of winning," Southee said. "We'd take confidence out of the last game at Eden Park which we won, so the guys are in a good space and looking forward to the game. It's a chance to put the wrongs we did against Australia and turn them into rights, against a non-minnow side.

"We've watched bits and pieces [of them] where ever we can but we're more worried about what we want to do. Having that series against them we know a bit about them, so hopefully that proves to our advantage though it'll be the same advantage to them. "

The threats, Southee acknowledged, will come from various players, foremost among them Misbah-ul-Haq; in New Zealand Misbah scored six fifties in eight innings across Tests and ODIs. That form has filtered into the tournament, with two more half-centuries and a position atop Pakistan run-getters. "He's in a rich vein of form so hopefully we've learnt from the way we bowled against him in New Zealand and we can work on a couple of things to try and put an end to that form. He's playing exceptionally well along with the likes of [Shahid] Afridi and they have a couple of guys who are standing up in key moments in games."

Given the relative lack of surprises in Group A and the weakness of the two Associate sides, irrespective of the result against Pakistan, New Zealand should still make it to the knock-out stages, though Southee remains cautious. "It's the kind of tournament where you take each game at a time and you don't want to look too far ahead. We're just looking at the Pakistan game at the moment and then we'll move on to Canada. You can't get complacent and look too far ahead. We still have three games to go in pool play."