The England cricket team is considering roping in Tim Southee as a pace bowling consultant for the home summer. This includes the five-match Test match series against India starting on June 20.
If roped in, Southee will replace James Anderson, who will be playing county cricket for Lancashire in the meantime. Southee retired from Test cricket in December 2024 and is the all-time highest wicket-taker for Kiwis in cricket. He finished his Test career with 391 Test wickets, second only to Sir Richard Hadlee on 431.
As per reports in the BBC, Southee shares a good rapport with England head coach Brendon McCullum. Both of them played a long time for New Zealand across formats as well. England will play a one-off Test against Zimbabwe and then will take on the West Indies in a white-ball series before hosting India in a five-match Test series starting June 20.
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Tim Southee Finished His Test Career With 391 Wickets
Meanwhile, Tim Southee ended with the most wickets across formats as a Kiwi bowler. This makes his likely addition to the support staff all the more meaningful. Southee was a part of the Kiwi side that whitewashed India in India last year. He took two wickets in three matches, as most of the damage was done by the spinners. Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner took 28 wickets between them to rattle the Indian batters in that Test series.
The Kiwi whitewash followed the Test series loss to Australia, which denied India a place in the WTC final. Recently, Southee was seen commentating in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 when he looked back at his playing days.
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Meanwhile, India will be led by Rohit Sharma in the Test series against England. He has been backed by the management to bring success to the team in the Test format after he won two ICC titles as captain within 12 months.
The Test series kicks off India's WTC 2025-27 campaign. India made it to the final of the WTC 2019 and 2021 editions but could not replicate the same in the 2023 edition after losses to New Zealand and Australia, which brought a lot of changes within the Indian cricket team.
