Southee: ‘The Kiwi way is to muck in and get the best out of what we’ve got’

For Southee, who until a couple of weeks ago was playing under McCullum for Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL, seeing his former captain walking around in England gear will take some extra getting used to.

Whether or not McCullum – who made the last of his 432 New Zealand appearances in 2016 – can divulge any short-term wisdom that will benefit England, the tourists undoubtedly know what to expect from a team he is involved with.

“It’s exciting, obviously a great challenge for Brendon,” Southee said. “I know him pretty well. Everything he does, he gives it a 100-percent so this will be no different. He’s excited about the next wee while and what lays ahead of him. I’m sure he’ll be doing everything he can to bring the best out of this England Test side.

“He’s a great man-manager and he loves to try to get the best out of people. I’m sure he’ll be doing that here as well. The way he played his cricket was exciting and fearless, and that’s the way he is a person and I’m sure that’s the way he is as a coach as well.

“It will be an exciting brand of cricket, I’m sure. They [England] won’t die wondering I’d imagine if the way he goes about things is anything to go by.”

Those two guys, BJ [Watling] and Ross [Taylor], have been massive parts of the side for such a long time, they’re obviously big holes to fill. But we’ve got guys who have been playing some pretty good cricket and waiting in the wings for a while.

Tim Southee on New Zealand’s talent pool

However, last year’s success was achieved in the complete absence of Boult, as he took some time off between another IPL season and the World Test Championship final, and New Zealand have good depth in their pace options despite a disrupted build-up.

“Nothing changes compared to the lead-up to any other Test match,” he said. “I love Test cricket and I’m excited to get back into playing some Test cricket after playing a lot of T20 cricket.”

“It’s very important, dropping a couple of Test matches in our home summer puts a little bit extra on this series. But our focus is the first five days here at Lord’s, then we shift on to the second Test and the third. As a group, we try to play what’s in front of us, attack it one Test at a time.

“We’ve been lucky that we’ve had a pretty consistent group of guys for a long period of time.” He said, “Those two guys, BJ and Ross, have been massive parts of the side for such a long time, they’re obviously big holes to fill.

“I guess in New Zealand we’ve learned to box above our weight for a long period of time,” Southee said. “We’re obviously challenged with just being a small country, the lack of people playing and lack of resource. The Kiwi way is to muck in and get the best out of what we’ve got. That’s not going to change, we’re not always a sudden going to have a lot of [players] to choose from. I think it’s just about making the most of what we’ve got. Sometimes less is more as well. And I think it’s in our DNA to try, not only the cricket side, as Kiwis is to just enjoy it and make the most of what we’ve got.”