New Zealand seamer Tim Southee recently became the third Test player from his country to pick 300 wickets.
He reached the milestone by picking up the wicket of Pakistan's left-handed batsman Haris Sohail in the second innings of the first Test match against Pakistan. It took 76 Test matches for Southee to get there.
The 32-year-old has expressed a desire to continue playing for New Zealand as long as he can. He believes that his age will remain just a number as far as he remains fit to play and match the standards required to play at the highest level of the game.
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Tim Southee told ESPNCricInfo, “I would love to play for as long as I possibly can. I love doing what I have done and fortunate enough to do it for a period of time now. Obviously, there are high standards that come with representing New Zealand. And as long as you can, I guess, withhold those standards, then I guess age is any number.”
“I just turned 32 the other day. So I think people think I am probably a little bit older than I am. But it is something I love doing. You look at the likes of James Anderson, still able to achieve what he's achieving at the age of 38, Ross [Taylor] as well, the way he seems to be getting better and better with age as well. So it's just a number. So long as you can maintain those standards that are required at this level, then, you know, I would like to continue to play," he added.
He also talked proudly about reaching the 300-wicket mark revealing that it feels good to be in the bracket of cricketers like Sir Richard Hadlee and Daniel Vettori, who are the only two Kiwi players with more Test wickets than Southee.
“It is special, and obviously not many people have been able to do it and the two that have, they are two of our greatest-ever cricketers - so it's nice to be in that bracket with those guys.
When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was play cricket for New Zealand and I guess to sit here after a reasonable time of doing that and achieving a couple of things along the way. It's a pretty cool feeling,” Southee added.
(With inputs from ESPNCricInfo/ANI)
