Man of moment Southee welcomes return bout

Even an unscheduled lengthy layover in Wellington Airport couldn't shift the smile from Tim Southee's face as he reflected on his match-winning performance against Australia in the second Twenty20 international.
Sunday's match will linger a long time in the memory of New Zealand cricket fans because of its dramatic ups and downs and Southee said yesterday  the match topped the list of his international experiences to date.
"That's probably about as good as it gets, I think, it was a great team performance set up by the way Brendon McCullum batted, and the way the Australian batsmen went about their chase was incredible but we were lucky enough to hold on by the skin of our teeth," he said.
While most will remember McCullum's fine 116 not out, Southee's bowling and the Black Caps' fielding at the death was responsible for winning the match.
The Waiotira 21-year-old was chosen to bowl two of the final three overs by Daniel Vettori as the Kiwi skipper's final bid to stave off defeat with Michael Clarke and Cameron White looking invincible at the crease for the Australians.
Looking as calm as if he was bowling for Maungakaramea in a club match, Southee bowled two pinpoint overs under extreme pressure to force a tie with the Aussies.
"I was obviously disappointed with my first two overs at the top of the innings. We knew they were going to come hard at us and I didn't adapt ... I had about 15 overs in the field to think about what was coming up. I knew I had a job to do at the death and I wanted to make up for what had happened earlier.
"I just tried to bowl yorkers - that's been what I've been doing in the HRV Cup for Northern Districts - and I was just lucky I got a couple  up there early on and that gave my confidence a boost and I kind of got on a roll after that," he said.
Southee was then paid the ultimate compliment by Vettori - he was chosen to bowl the one over decider over the more senior bowlers and he didn't disappoint.
The pace bowler said his knees were wobbling at the top of his mark, with the intensity of the game and the crowd's  support at Christchurch's AMI Stadium.
 
 "The atmosphere was unbelievable, the noise of 30,000 people screaming your name and chanting as you ran in, sent shivers down my spine," he said.
He took the wicket of David Warner and limited the batsmen to just six runs in the "eliminator" over - a total reached by Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptil with three balls to spare.
 
 Southee said the hard work starts again today  as the Black Caps prepare for the first 50-over match in Napier tomorrow but Sunday's bowling effort had given him confidence.

 "It's always good to compete against the best team in the world and win.  It is just one game but hopefully we'll take the same intensity into the one-dayer."