New Zealand Test captain Tim Southee created history when he became the leading wicket taker for the Black Caps in international cricket. The 34-year-old pacer, who was handed the Test captaincy last year when star batter Kane Williamson stepped down from the role, broke the record of former skipper and star spinner Daniel Vettori to take the No. 1 position. After taking a five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in the first innings of the ongoing first Test in Christchurch, the former U-19 star, Southee now has 708 wickets to his name from 354 matches. He leapfrogged Vettori (705 wickets from 442 matches) to become the all-time leading wicket-taker.
Southee made his debut for New Zealand on February 5, 2008, when he was included in the playing XI for a T20I match against England in Auckland. He made his Test and ODI debuts that same year, and since then he has been a regular member of the New Zealand team. The right-arm medium pacer has played in a total of 93 Tests, 154 ODIs, and 107 T20Is to date, in which he has 364, 210, and 134 wickets to his name, respectively. With the bat also, Southee has made some vital contributions in his career. He has 1950 Test runs to his name, and in ODIs and T20Is, he has scored 720 and 261 runs, respectively.
| POSITION | PLAYER | MATCHES | WICKETS | BEST |
| 1. | Tim Southee | 354* | 708 | 7/33 |
| 2. | Daniel Vettori | 437 | 705 | 7/87 |
| 3. | Sir Richard Hadlee | 201 | 589 | 9/52 |
| 4. | Trent Boult | 232 | 578 | 7/34 |
| 5. | Chris Cairns | 278 | 419 | 7/27 |
Apart from being the leading wicket-taker for the Black Caps in international cricket, Southee holds the record for taking the highest number of wickets in T20Is. His tally of 134 wickets in the shortest format hasn’t been matched by anyone to date.
Top 5 wicket-takers in T20Is
| POSITION | PLAYER | COUNTRY | MATCHES | WICKETS | BEST FIGURES |
| 1. | Tim Southee | New Zealand | 107 | 134 | 5/18 |
| 2. | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 110 | 129 | 5/20 |
| 3. | Rashid Khan | Afghanistan | 77 | 126 | 5/3 |
| 4. | Ish Sodhi | New Zealand | 91 | 114 | 4/28 |
| 5. | Lasith Malinga | Sri Lanka | 84 | 107 | 5/6 |
As far as the first Test of the two-match series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka is concerned, after being invited to bat first, Sri Lanka managed to post 355 runs in the first innings. For the hosts, Southee accounted for the dismissal of five batters for 64 runs in his 26.4-over spell. The Kiwi captain was ably supported by Matt Henry, who got rid of four batters for 80 runs.
