CRICKET - Southee's in cricket heaven

In case you wondered, Tim Southee does not suffer from verbal diarrhoea.
Put it this way, he doesn't waste words.
In a way it is a refreshing change from a New Zealand cricketer. Loud, brash statements of intent just aren't Southee's style and most likely never will be. But when the 19-year-old Northland cricketer suddenly found himself standing on the player's balcony at the "home of cricket", Lord's, he was moved to utter a few sentences. It finally dawned on him that he was about to be part of a test match at the hallowed ground.
"Being able to play over here is something every cricketer dreams of. Just turning up to the ground, going to the changing room and seeing the honours board with all the guys that have scored hundreds and taken five-wicket bags is something special. You just feel the atmosphere, you just feel you are experiencing something different," Southee said.
"Just standing there on the balcony and looking over the ground made the old heart flutter bit more than normal. Everything is going well and I am just looking forward to making the starting 11 hopefully for this test. I think it will be a good cricket wicket, there's a bit in there for the bowlers and a bit in there for the batters, so it should be a good contest."
Confirmed in the test squad last night, Southee doesn't have too dig too far back to find a Northland cricketer who has already made his mark at Lord's either - and ended up on the honours board as well.
Dion Nash burst on to the international scene with 11 wickets and a half-century in his fifth test (his first at Lord's) in 1994. It was a feat Southee duly noted when he studied the honours board, if he needed any more motivation that is. Now he is just looking forward to the action to start.
But when he steps onto the ground ready for action Southee will round off a remarkable year. He started it with a player-of-the-tournament performance at the world under-19 tournament and followed that with a quicker-than-expected call-up to the national test team in Napier where he grabbed a six-wicket bag then produced the quickest 50 runs in New Zealand test cricket history.
So his award as Northland cricketer of the year last week only underlines his new status in sport in the North. It has been a rise that could make anyone dizzy. But he has a very simple ethos to cope.
"It's still settling in, obviously it is a great honour to represent your country in any sport. I have to pinch myself now and again to make sure it is actually happening," he said. "I just want to go out there and do the best I can and just see what happens."
It is an attitude that will find favour with coach John Bracewell who first toured England in 1983 and took Gloucestershire to several one-day finals at Lord's. Bracewell's formula for any potentially overawed youngsters was to simply try to soak it all up. "You spend a lot of time in the dressing room and rather than lecture them you just let them enjoy, sit back and relax. They might sit in different corners and speculate where Richard Hadlee sat and all the other names, they look up at the honours board and you can see their eyes glaze over a little bit," Bracewell said.
* THE WINNERS
Cricketer of the year: Tim Southee
Bon Henman Trophy (Outstanding individual performance): Brad Wilson
Captain's Trophy: Brad Wilson.
Brian Dunning Memorial: Brad Wilson.
Northland Second XI: Batsman, Ian Page; Bowler, Jamie Kay; Fielder, Harry Darkins; Player of tournament, Kurt Wilson.
Northland women: Batsman, Jodi Antunovich; Bowler, Heather Deane; Fielder, Nicci Anderson; Player of tournament, Jodi Antunovich.