New Zealand veteran pacer Tim Southee has announced the he will retire from Test matches following the upcoming three-match series against England.
Southee will finish his Test career on home turf at Seddon Park, which will host the final match of the series. The match will begin on December 13, with the two Tests that precede it hosted at the Hagley Oval and the Basin Reserve, respectively. While this is scheduled to be his final Test, the right-armer specified that he would make himself available for the World Test Championship final in June if New Zealand were to qualify. New Zealand currently sit in fourth place in the league table following their series-win over India.
The former Test captain is New Zealand's all-time leading international wicket-taker, with his tally currently standing at 770. He has played over 100 games in each international format, and is only second to Richard Hadlee in New Zealand's Test wicket-taking standings. In the white-ball formats, he sits third on New Zealand's ODI wicket-taking standings but leads the way on the T20I list with 164 wickets at 22.38. He has reportedly yet to decide whether he will continue to play white-ball internationals for New Zealand's series against Sri Lanka later in December.
