NZ vs ENG | Will be good to play some Test cricket, states Tim Southee

Acting New Zealand captain Tim Southee is not looking back to the T20I series as a loss for the team and is instead excited to “get the whites back on” with England set to play a two-match Test series as a part of the same tour. 

"It was a good series, sort of ebbed and flowed throughout, but at the end of the day it was good cricket and finished off with some good entertainment here. It will be good to get the whites back on,” Southee said at the post-match presentation, according to ESPNCricinfo.

After coming close to winning the fifth and the final T20I at Auckland the hosts had to face the misfortune of a Super Over just like they did in the World Cup final a little over four months ago at Lord’s. But once again the Kiwis fell 9 runs short in the Super Over, after having tied the 11-over game. Chris Jordan scored a last-ball four off Jimmy Neesham’s delivery in the 11th over for England to tie at 146.

Southee has praised the efforts of the opposition and said that the English side “just kept coming hard” at them. 

"The shorter the game, the harder the side can go. They just kept coming hard and it would have been nice to have one more run there somewhere but it wasn't to be,” Southee remarked.

Meanwhile, Kane Williamson is expected to be back before the start of the two-match Test series, the first of which will be played on November 21 at Mount Maunganui, Tauranga.