Alex Chapman: Southee poised to pen perfect final chapter to remarkable Blackcaps career

Despite what we’re told as kids, there aren’t always happy endings.

Whether in life or in this case sport, some of the greatest athletes in history didn’t get the last chapter of their choice. And the book can close in all sorts of ways.

In his last competitive race, Usain Bolt pulled up injured in the 4x100m relay at the 2017 world championships. Zinedine Zidane will be remembered by many for that headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final rather than his triumph against Brazil in 1998, while Michael Schumacher came out of retirement only to go back in without finishing higher than eighth – and that’s just to name a few.

Let’s be honest, it’s easier to name those who didn’t get them, than those who did, while some athletes don’t even get to go out on their terms. In fact, there’s a few recent Blackcaps who didn’t get their say, at least until the book release.

It may not be the perfect one, but Tim Southee will get some sort of fairytale finish, after a career that’s had so much.

We all know the Tim Southee debut story.

Announcing himself as a 19-year-old in Napier, nipping one back to thud into the pads of England captain Michael Vaughan, before going on to take a five-wicket haul. He’s claimed another 14 since, and that unbeaten 77 remains his highest score. The expectation bar was immediately set high.

He’d already introduced himself to the cricket world with two T20 internationals and a player of the tournament award at the under-19's World Cup, where he shared a dressing room with so many future New Zealand teammates; Williamson, Bracewell, Anderson, Worker, and yes, Boult.

Southee and Boult. What a partnership that has been. New Zealand’s own version Lillee and Thompson, or Anderson and Broad. The greatest on these shores since Hadlee and Chatfield – and many will argue the modern pair sit atop the Kiwi hierarchy.

That Test debut, though, was just a tease of the moments that would fill his career for the next almost 17 years.

A seven-fer in India, his best Test figures in one of, if not the, toughest places to bowl swing. Twice you’ll find his name on thep restigious Lord’s honours board. And then there was that seven-wicket haul against England in the 2015 World Cup with a pitch map that looked like a clump handful of jaffas . Fittingly, jaffas are what he bowled that day in Wellington.

His bowling has, in some respects, changed. He’s added the three-quarter ball that nips in, because, as he’s said numerous times, he can’t bowl an in-swinger. For a while, he was the block-hole specialist in white ball cricket.

The pace has gone down, but that late-swinging outswinger has always remained, and been the product of the demise of some of the best. He’ll fall short of Hadlee’s 431 wickets, and if recent form is anything to go by, even getting the extra 15 for 400 may seem out of reach.

As for the batting, yes, for many fans, it’s been unfathomably frustrating. The seemingly unnecessary hoicks, heaves and head-up shots in situations that called for calm and composure, not chaos. But when you look at the list of players who have hit the most sixes tests, he sits sixth. Among some of the greatest batters and allrounders, you can’t help but laugh. One hundred of those seems more likely than a century of runs.

And yet, to many, it’d come as a surprise if he’s driven by numbers.

I’ve had several sources - ex-players, administrators, former teammates - willingly over the last couple of months, first since Southee stood down as skipper, and now since announcing his retirement, all say the same thing: “Tim’s a team man.”

For Southee, team has always come first.

And when you look at the teams he’s been part of, it’s hard to argue he hasn’t played roles. Whether it be the leading one, co-starring, in support, or off in the wings, he’s influenced games. The team is why he stood down as skipper last month. Although, as he joked in his retirement press conference, that was because of his failings at the toss.

On the note of joking, there are all sorts of Southee stories. One, whether true or not, involving a coach’s baseball mit and a block of ice, while I’ve had ex-teammates describe him as “a pest.” In recent times I’ve seen him challenge journalists in an interview, only to laugh seconds later.

Yes, this is what’s best for the team, but it’s a team that is about to look so drastically different from what it did even two years ago.

At 32, Matt Henry will now lead the attack, while the likes of Will O’Rourke (Cornwall), Ben Sears, and the when-fit Kyle Jamieson, will, like Southee, play roles. But it’s also an attack which, for the first time since Stephen Fleming’s last Test, won’t have one of Wagner, Boult and soon Southee, and the next crop coming through which remains unsewn.

When he walks out against England later this year, Southee only needs to look at the opposition dressing room for a reminder that fairytales don’t always happen.

England’s greatest fast bowler recently released his book, detailing how he turned up to a hotel to be told the stumps would be getting pulled for him, rather than getting to remove them himself. Southee has the luxury of doing so on his own terms, albeit some fans have called for the boots to be hung up for a while.

And now part of that England coaching setup is an old mate of Southee’s. One who once said he’d rather have Boult and Southee over any new ball pair in the world. One who backed him for so long, whether behind the sticks or at mid-off yelling “yes Timmy.” One who batted in a similar cavalier nature and potentially gave him the freedom to join in.

He’ll be wearing a different kit to what he did when he clapped and cheered him 17 years ago, and for so many deliveries since.

But if there ever was a full circle moment, playing against Brendon McCullum, certainly would be one for Tim Southee.

And that in itself, is a fairytale ending.