Melbourne: New Zealand pacer Tim Southee feels it is a dream to be playing against Australia in a World Cup final. “Growing up as a boy, it was always Australia you wanted to play against. If you were playing someone in the backyard, it was New Zealand versus Australia and things like that. There is a massive rivalry in whatever sport you are playing in New Zealand and you always want to have one-up on the big brother,” said Southee on arrival for the Sunday final.
Southee also feels that there cannot be anything more exciting than playing the hosts. “It’s pretty exciting. Obviously co-hosts, it doesn’t get any better than that, taking on Australia in Australia in one of the best cricket grounds in the world. The guys are very excited, and an awesome opportunity,” he added.
Southee hit out at Australian skipper Michael Clarke’s remark that the size of the ground will play a big role as New Zealanders have small grounds and are only used to playing on them. “We have got guys that have played a lot of cricket around the world, in various grounds, big and small. Although the grounds in New Zealand are small, we do have a couple of big ones. Hagley Park is reasonably big. We are not too worried about the size of the ground. The guys have played a lot of cricket around the world on big grounds.”
Southee is also not bothered about the crowd factor as nearly 90,000 may witness the final and majority will be Australians. “A lot of our guys have played in front of pretty big crowds in India – in the Indian Premier League or on tours to India. It will be a great occasion, obviously close to a hundred thousand people screaming. We have had a couple of big crowds at Eden Park, and that’s been quite impressive. Obviously a smaller ground and you feel like the crowd is on top of you. It will be interesting to see how it is going to be here but I am sure the guys are pretty excited and will embrace the challenge and the excitement that comes with it.”
When asked whether he was surprised by the one-sided semi-final between Australia and India, Southee said: “Australia played some very good cricket the other night. India are a great side, they have played some great cricket throughout this tournament. I didn’t see too much of the game, I only caught the end of it,” he said.
Southee went on to say that they are no longer the team that Australia looked down their noses and are worthy opponents to the finalists. “In times gone by, we probably haven’t played to our potential and not been as consistent as we should have been. In the last two years, we have slowly gained a little bit more respect around the world because of the brand of cricket we are playing. We respect Australia, they are a quality, side and they are not the No.1 side in the world for no reason.”
