KEY POINTS:
A fortnight after one of the more forgettable one-day cricket debuts, Tim Southee was being hailed as New Zealand's player-of-the-series.
It was no mean feat for the 19-year-old from Maungakaramea in Northland who won the poll of cricket writers at Lord's, ahead of contenders Kyle Mills and Daniel Vettori, after New Zealand polished off England by 51 runs to clinch the series 3-1.
Southee quickly established himself as New Zealand cricket's golden-arm with his five-wicket test debut in Napier in March and did nothing to shake the tag in the past week here.
After suffering from an England onslaught in his ODI debut in Durham - to the tune of one for 68 off 10 overs - Southee's next four ODIs reaped 12 wickets at 14.08.
"He's been huge. Right from the start John (Bracewell) and I talked about trying to get as much experience into him," captain Vettori said.
"At 19, not having played a lot of games, we knew he had the talent and we just wanted to persevere with him.
"After Durham he learned a lot and from then on he has just taken wickets for us every time we needed one - throw the ball to Tim and the job gets done."
They weren't just any wickets either, as Southee's brisk outswing and variation in bounce caused problems for most England batsmen.
In Bristol a week ago, Southee took three for none in eight balls then removed captain Paul Collingwood leg before wicket for 34 to set New Zealand on the path to a breakthrough victory.
At The Oval he chopped down Ian Bell in full flight for 46 and added Collingwood's wicket for good measure. At Lord's he enticed new skipper Kevin Pietersen into a false stroke, the catch gleefully held by Jacob Oram.
He earned high praise from respected cricket writer and BBC commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins who rated Southee "a better bowler than Richard Hadlee at the same age".
Southee rated the player-of-the-series award as "an awesome achievement" in his debut tour.
"After Durham I didn't get off to a great start but then I managed to pull things together," Southee said.
- NZPA
