That included a man of the match-winning eight wickets in the dramatic win over Pakistan last season, including six for 80 in the first innings which put New Zealand in charge. Pakistan lost nine wickets in the final session of the test to tumble to a 138-run loss.
"It's usually a good cricket wicket," Southee, who turns 29 on Monday, said yesterday. "It does swing a little bit here but it's about adapting to the wicket and we've done that reasonably well at most grounds around New Zealand in the last few years.
"Usually there's a nice little breeze coming across the ground. Sometimes it's a humid day and it swings; it can be a blue sky and also swings.
"It can be random parts of the day where you have a little glimpse of swing and you have to make the most of it."
New Zealand's fast bowling stocks are in decent shape.
With left armers Neil Wagner and Trent Boult the incumbents, plus Southee and Henry, New Zealand also have Auckland speedster Lockie Ferguson and Central Districts quick Adam Milne, both of whom have had limited-overs chances but no five-day opportunities yet.
"The amount of depth we've got is a pleasing sign," Southee added.
The arrival of the baby ruled Southee out of the first test of the summer. There's only four — two against England at the end of the season — so players want to make the most of them.
Southee's no different.
"Ask any player and they'll still rank test cricket as the pinnacle.
"I guess you always want to play more but with the cards we've been dealt this year there's only four. Hopefully going forward we get to play more test cricket in New Zealand."
For those who look for omens, here's a bad one for the West Indies, who have lost their captain Jason Holder to a one-test suspension over a slow over rate in Wellington.
They have lost their only two tests in Hamilton, by solid margins in 1999 and 2013. Then again there's a solid expectation, from them and the New Zealand camp that they will, in racing parlance, be better for the run in Wellington, and up for a decent scrap.
