Southee cleared of wrongdoing over plane incident

Tim Southee during the second one day international match between New Zealand and Pakistan in Queenstown last month. Photo / Getty Images

The Black Caps have confirmed the player at the centre of allegations of lewd behaviour on their flight to Dubai is Tim Southee.

Manager Dave Currie said claims by another passenger that Southee, 22, indulged in "the worst possible sort of lewd behaviour" with a woman were incorrect, and Southee and the young woman only chatted on the flight from Sydney to Dubai.

In a statement, Mr Currie said: I have become aware of the media attention about the incident and carried out a thorough investigation. I've spoken to Tim directly as well as team management. Tim has described a detailed version of events and has provided a written statement in relation to this.

"I also spoke with several individuals and held a team meeting. Everyone is adamant that nothing untoward occurred on the flight and are surprised about the reports.

"Tim met a female passenger on board the plane and spent some time with her, however we are confident that nothing inappropriate happened between them.

The statement said New Zealand Cricket now considered the matter closed unless further information came to light.

NZ Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan confirmed to One News that Southee had been drinking and took a female passenger back to his seat.

The team's media manager, Ellery Tappin, said he was "dumbfounded" by the amount of attention the reports had garnered.

"We've done a thorough investigation and found absolutely nothing substantial, so are incredibly surprised by the amount of attention it's generated and are all a bit dumbfounded, to be perfectly honest, about how this has escalated," he said.

The team was in Dubai just about to get on a plane to Mumbai for Cricket World Cup preparations.

- NZ Herald staff, NZPA and Newstalk ZB