Tim Southee named New Zealand’s player of the year for 2021

New Zealand pacer Tim Southee was on Thursday awarded the prestigious Sir Richard Hadlee Medal, the award which is being given to the top men’s performer of the year in the country.

Southee, who is currently representing Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), was announced as winner of the event on the third and final day of the New Zealand Cricket Awards. The 33-year-old shared the podium with Bert Sutcliffe Medal recipient Penny Kinsella; the test player of the year, Devon Conway, and the women’s and men’s domestic players of the year — Nensi Patel, and joint male winners Tom Bruce and Robb’e O’Donnell.

Notably, Southee, a right-arm fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting lower order, was named the winner based on his fantastic consistency throughout the summer season; at home and abroad, in red and white ball cricket, according to reports in the New Zealand media.

Southee scalped 36 wickets in Test at an average of 23.88, including best figures of six for 43 against England at Lord’s and five crucial wickets against India in the victorious ICC World Test Championship final at Southampton, www.suff.co.nz reported.

Earlier, he was also named as the winner of this year’s Winsor Cup for first-class bowling

Southee has taken 338 Test wickets — 23 fewer than Daniel Vettori and 93 short of the record-holder the award is named after, Hadlee.

Commenitng on it from KKR’s base in Mumbai, Southee said: “It’s a huge honour to win such a prestigious award. Like most cricketers growing up I knew all about the exploits of Sir Richard and it’s certainly pretty humbling to win his award this year.”

“While the accolades are nice, I think it really just reflects the way we have worked together as a group and played our cricket for a long period of time. It’s been great to be a part of this period and being able to win games for our country which is something that’s very special,” he said on the occasion,” he added.

News Desk

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