New Zealand pacer Tim Southee on Saturday praised Kyle Jamieson, saying that the all-rounder has been a great addition to the Kiwi Test line-up.
Southee’s remark came after stumps on the third day in the ongoing first Test between New Zealand and West Indies. Jermaine Blackwood and Alzarri Joseph scored half-centuries as West Indies looked to stage a fightback after New Zealand enforced the follow-on to maintain their dominance in the ongoing first Test here at Seddon Park on Saturday. “It was nice, this is one of the few grounds that favours the outswing. But we assessed through it last night and we weren’t far off. We knew where we had to be for longer periods of time, and managed to get a couple early and get the ball rolling,” ESPNCricinfo quoted Southee as saying.
“Jamieson has been a great addition at the back end of last summer, and he’s shown again here with both bat and ball. So he’s been a great asset to the side and adds another variation as well. Obviously, you’ve got myself and Trent Boult, left- and right-arm to swing it. Wagner does his thing and then you’ve got a tall guy in Jamieson who hits some challenging areas,” he added.
West Indies closed the third session on 196/6 in their second innings after being made to follow-on in Hamilton. The side is trailing by 185 runs. After cleaning West Indies up for 138 in the first innings, New Zealand bowlers again came to the party in the second innings.
In the first innings, Southee scalped four wickets while Jamieson and Wagner took two wickets each.
In the second innings, all the Kiwi bowlers have chipped in with wickets, with Wagner scalping two wickets while others have taken one each.
Southee is currently on 289 Test wickets, and the pacer said that he is not looking to go past the 300-mark figure as soon as possible.
“You probably don’t chase such milestones. It’s something that when you play for long enough, those things happen. But yeah, it’ll be something special if I can get there,” said Southee.
“At the moment, it’s about coming back tomorrow and taking the remaining wickets. It’s just nice to contribute… and it’ll be a lot of hard work between now and then,” he added.
