New Zealand’s legendary swing bowler Tim Southee was a part of the squad which played the finals of 2019 Cricket World Cup against England at Lords. The home team was crowned world champions despite a tied Super Over because they scored more boundaries in the match and the Super Over.
Recalling the famous final contest of the global showpiece event, former New Zealander Simon Doull took an interview of Southee on ICC’s ‘Inside Out’ show where Simon asked the pacer to reveal what exactly happened inside the Kiwi dressing room when the result was out.
“How was the feeling afterwards in the dressing room? Obviously, there was a disappointment but was there a sense of pride? Was there someone who was able to stand up and say, ‘boys look what we have done, look whats happened today, and they will talk about this game for years and years to come’,” asked Simon.
Southee said that it was undoubtedly an outlandish feeling, certainly unexpected. The right-armer expressed when during the semi-final, the BlackCaps managed to get MS Dhoni out; a sensation felt that they are into the grand finale of the mega event.
“It was a strange, strange, strange feeling, what we have gone through… a rollercoaster. I think even the semi-final where we had to come back for two days and millimetres in that, the run out of Dhoni and you sort of think we got through on the skin of our teeth. And we sort of we were in a position in the final,” said Southee.
Speaking on the finals, the Northland cricketer opined that it was just a crazy day when the whole shebang happened.
“We got some runs on the board, and I guess there is a number of things you look back on. It was just a crazy day as you said, if you peel a little back and only remove the emotion of being caught up and what actually happened, which is hard to do for us players but then if you are able to do it and you think what it did for the game and as you say it was a spectacle,” the 31-year-old added.
Southee also articulated that if anyone had said the story of World Cup final before it actually happened, nobody would have bought this statement at all. However, in the end, it was good for the game.
“If someone had said that the world cup final was going to be tied and the Super Over that’s gonna be tied as well I think, no one would have believed you. But it’s hard because we did come so close but yeah if you peel it back and remove the emotion, I think it has been good for the game,” Southee concluded.
