Tim Southee, New Zealand’s stand-in captain and pace spearhead, became the second-highest wicket-taker in men’s T20I cricket on Thursday (April 1).
Southee, who now has 99 scalps to his name in the shortest version of the international game, achieved the landmark playing against Bangladesh in the third and final T20I of the series in Auckland.
The experienced Black Caps paceman started off the fixture with 96 T20I wickets under his belt but ended up taking three more to inch past Pakistan’s former captain and wrist-spinner Shahid Afridi in the list of highest wicket-takers in T20Is.
Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan fast-bowling legend, is still the leading wicket-taker with 107 scalps in T20 international cricket. Among the current lot of bowlers, Afghanistan and Bangladesh spinners Rashid Khan (95) and Shakib Al Hasan (92) are nearest to Southee’s fantastic feat.
Southee bagged the landmark when he dismissed Bangladesh’s Mosaddek Hossain and ended as one of the heroes in New Zealand’s comfortable win.
He has now played 83 T20Is for New Zealand with 99 wickets at an average of 25.17 and an economy rate of 8.39.
In a rain-interrupted 10-over fixture, New Zealand piled on a massive total of 141/4 with opening batsmen Martin Guptill (44) and Finn Allen (71) playing the stand-out knocks for their team. Allen, especially, dominated the Bangladesh attack through his innings of 29 balls, including 10 fours and 3 sixes.
Taskin Ahmed (1/24), Shoriful Islam (1/21) and Mahedi Hasan (1/34) picked up a wicket apiece but none of the visiting bowlers managed to put the breaks on run-scoring. Even Nasum Ahmed (0/29), Bangladesh’s best bowler from the first two T20Is, proved expansive. And so did Rubel Hossain (0/33).
In the run-chase, Bangladesh collapsed horribly to just 76 all out in 9.3 overs. None of their batters were able to put the pressure back on the opposition, with just Mohammad Naim (19), Soumya Sarkar (10) and Mosaddek Hossain (13) scoring in double digits. It was a poor batting performance, which summed up Bangladesh’s whole tour of New Zealand.
For the Kiwis, apart from Southee, Todd Astle (4/13) was fantastic with the ball. The leg-spinner got his rare opportunity in the playing XI and made it count brilliantly. Astle has now taken 7 wickets from overall 4 T20Is in his career while bowling at an economy rate of 8.2. He had replaced New Zealand’s first-choice spinner Ish Sodhi in the playing XI.
Lockie Ferguson (1/13) and Glenn Phillips (1/11) also proved very economical and played their part in New Zealand’s win.
For his exploits with the bat on the night, Allen was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’, while Phillips received the ‘Player of the Series’ award for his fantastic performances in the three-match rubber.
New Zealand proved too good in all departments of the game through the series for Bangladesh and finished with a successful 3-0 whitewash. They had earlier defeated the visitors 3-0 in the ODI series as well.
As it was at the beginning of the tour, Bangladesh’s record in international cricket in New Zealand remained poor by the end of it. The Asian rivals have now lost all their 7 T20Is, 16 ODIs and 9 Tests played against New Zealand in New Zealand in their cricketing history.
New Zealand only fine-tuned their preparation towards this year’s edition of the T20 World Cup in India scheduled for October-November through their home international summer.
The Black Caps had earlier defeated West Indies, Pakistan and Australia as well in their respective T20I series against the three opponents. For all spots in the line-up, New Zealand possess greater depth than ever in their history.
