KEY POINTS:
There's a temptation, to be strenuously avoided, to laud a 19-year-old as the saviour of New Zealand cricket.
The signs are highly promising that Tim Southee will become a long-term fixture and a top-class allrounder for New Zealand. But sport has an unpleasant habit of lifting people up beyond their comfort level, then dropping them from a great height when they fail to match up to over-the-top expectations.
Southee's test debut against England in Napier was immensely encouraging. His performance fully justified his inclusion, even if as a late replacement for the injured Kyle Mills.
From the time he took the new ball on Saturday morning, Southee looked the part.
He had two prime wickets in his first three overs, at which point he might have been inclined to think test cricket was a bit of a lark.
Only one other New Zealander has taken five wickets on debut, Bruce Taylor, 43 years ago in Kolkata.
Southee was true to the words of his captain, Daniel Vettori, before the test when he remarked - as the emphasis turned from seam to swing, to match England's fast-medium men who had undone New Zealand in the second test at the Basin Reserve - that the young man swung the ball and was consistently accurate.
"And with those things it doesn't really matter what sort of wicket you bowl on," Vettori said.
The result was five for 55, his five being Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen - Nos 2, 3 and 4, all averaging over 40 in tests - plus a couple at the tail, which adds up to an ideal innings' work for a fast-medium bowler. Most encouraging, he gets good batsmen out.
Then in the death throes of the test, Southee exploded with the bat, hammering 77 not out in just 40 balls, breaking all sorts of records.
It was, he remarked afterwards, a bit of fun. It won't happen every day and he still has plenty of work to do with his batting. But the signs were good. Here is a young man with the confidence of youth, a clean striker of the ball willing to trust his sharp eye.
Southee is from a farming family just outside Whangarei. He appeals as having his feet firmly planted, and his background is likely to have discouraged any fancy-dan attitudes.
Indeed, as he was clapped off the ground after his five wickets he looked a bit sheepish; ditto after his whirlwind innings on Wednesday.
Anyone seeking lavish praise from Vettori after the test was out of luck. The skipper got it bang on. He had not been surprised by his bowling, knew his capabilities, recognised a maturity beyond his years. "As a 19-year-old you've almost got the polished product," Vettori said of Southee the bowler. "He knew what he needed to do. I didn't have to talk to him much throughout the game. He bowled a bouncer when appropriate, bowled a yorker when appropriate.
"[With the bat] he's got some ability. If we can get him going like that, as well as being able to hold up an end at times, it looks good for the future."
And that's how it should sit: No more, no less, for now.
FASTEST NZ TEST 50
29 balls: Tim Southee, v England, Napier 2008
34 balls: Ian Smith, v Pakistan, Faisalabad, 1990
36 balls: Bruce Taylor, v West Indies, Auckland, 1969
FASTEST TEST 50
24 balls: Jacques Kallis (South Africa) v Zimbabwe, Cape Town, 2004-05
26 balls: Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) v India, Bangalore, 2004-05; Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh) v India, Mirpur, 2007
27 balls: Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan) v South Africa, Cape Town 2002-03
28 balls: Ian Botham (England) v India, Delhi, 1981-82; Foffie Williams (West Indies) v England, Barbados, 1947-48
29 balls: Southee, and Bruce Yardley (Australia) v West Indies, Barbados, 1978
MOST SIXES INTEST INNINGS
12: Wasim Akram (Pakistan) v Zimbabwe, Sheikhupura 1996
11: Nathan Astle (New Zealand) v England, Christchurch 2002
11: Matthew Hayden (Australia) v Zimbabwe, Perth 2003
9: Chris Cairns (New Zealand) v Zimbabwe, Auckland 1996
9: Tim Southee (NZ) v England, Napier 2008
9: Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) v New Zealand, Lahore 2002
