Southee is only an outswing bowler... stock ball is a big hooping outswinger... his variation is an off cutter where he rolls his finger over it.

I always figured he was a specialist seamer...ala Hazlewood. Surprised you say his stock ball is the outswinger. I have to be honest i have not seen all that much of him. His record is pretty good.. 63 - 237w @29.9 (a bit steep).

Yeah - he started off as a teenager with a horrible average from 2008-2011 averaging over 40. Then had a great 2012 (he was fast then mind you) to 2014. 

Plenty called for his dropping as he really struggled on roads in 2015 and most of 2016. But in 2017 he chipped in a few performances after he was the first bowler dropped for two spinners.

2018 was kind to him though taking 29 wickets at 19.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/232364.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

But what is interesting as observed by cricinfo is this:

Overall figures

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
TA Boult (NZ)	2012-2018	28	54	1116.3	266	3169	134	6/30	10/80	23.64	2.83	49.9	5	1
TG Southee (NZ)	2012-2018	28	54	1136.0	292	3196	130	6/50	10/108	24.58	2.81	52.4	4	1
N Wagner (NZ)	2012-2018	28	53	1029.2	216	3211	114	6/41	8/103	28.16	3.11	54.1	3	0

and this:

TA Boult (NZ)	2016-2018	8	16	348.3	82	1051	49	6/30	9/99	21.44	3.01	42.6	2	0
TG Southee (NZ)	2016-2018	8	16	344.0	103	966	45	6/62	8/120	21.46	2.80	45.8	3	0
N Wagner (NZ)	2016-2018	8	15	295.4	65	868	29	4/48	6/188	29.93	2.93	61.1	0	0
C de Grandhomme (NZ)	2016-2018	8	14	204.5	47	553	16	6/41	7/64	34.56	2.69	76.8	1	0

Wagner has made life much easier for Boult and Southee, and their averages are helped with Colin bowling donkey overs. If NZ lose Wagner, expect Boult and Southee to suffer big time, whereas Southee can replaced easily - as everyone else wants the new ball.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22831883/andrew-mcglashan-dissects-new-zealand-pace-attack-southee-wagner-boult

I wouldn't play Southee in Australia next summer - but it is what it is. This the guy who has really changed the nuance of the team (besides Wagner of course):

http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/player/55395.html

Holder gets his party started with a ton vs Rashid...

still going - party time Calypso style...

Pakistan put 317 on SA in SA in game 3...

Game on...

Holder could have batted for a tripple if not the world record... over a day to spare:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18913/scorecard/1158062/west-indies-vs-england-1st-test-england-tour-of-wi-2018-19

It is  interesting to read this, Paddles.

Plenty called for his dropping as he really struggled on roads in 2015 and most of 2016.

He would have been  predominately a seamer back then? Is that the reason he morphed  into a swing bowler?

 A quality seamer who does not swing the ball naturally is going to struggle on dead tracks.  that applies to Hazlewood.

Poms must have bowled some real rubbish to  a bloke whose FC  batting average is a moderate @28. Shades of Dizzy'z double in Asia.

Windies thrashing England overnite. Rolled by a part time offie who has only 50w @40 with a blow out strike rate of 71. Hang your heads Poms. 

Nah - he has always been an outswing bowler to rhb...

Just didn't swing in Aus for him nor Boult until the pink day night test at Adelaide..

Nothing that extreme... Holder is talented with the bat and always has been... Averaged 37 last year where 5 of his tests were in those low scoring games in the Carribean where Holder averaged like 12 with the ball... Also got a 50 in India last year and this is now his third test ton.

Regularly WI's top scorer in both test and odi... 

This guy is a great number 8 if he can keep his bowling form up... Given the regular failures of the WI batting line up - they need a player like him deep in the order who regularly says - "I'm batting for a while today"...

But the Poms made a huge selection blunder playing Rashid over Broad... left Anderson and Stokes overworked as well... Root has admitted he got it wrong... which he clearly did...

Thanks. I'm really interested in the stat breakdowns of bowling attacks as I firmly believe that they all help or hinder each other simply because its so much easier to get a new batsman out cheaply than a set batsman. And not having to bowl with an older ball doing nothing on a road - compared to new ball bowling - or more excessive bowling in swing or seam conditions also helps lower bowler averages. Then there's the tail end mopping that Baggers and Mike have already discussed this summer. Its a very provable phenomenon - but what is interesting is isolating the importance - some players are critically undervalued - especially those who do not take the new ball. 

Wagner is NZ's only attacking option when the ball is not swinging (outside dustbowls). But even CdG can do new ball bowling almost as well as Southee... Bear in mind this only typically happens on dustbowl pitches, like in Asia for example.

2nd position	2017-2018	4	7	109.0	34	238	10	3/52	3/72	23.80	2.18	65.4	0	0
3rd position	2016-2018	11	17	231.5	47	630	20	6/41	7/64	31.50	2.71	69.5	1	0

Wagner imo may have the least impressive stats, but he truly is as important as Boult. Southee much less so. Wagner works his butt off on the flat with an old ball...

What an effort from them. In some ways surprised Holder declared when he did. They had way more than enough but had over two days to go. Holders really developed into a very good allrounder. And that 8fer from Chase was lovely stuff

Windies have routed England again, this time for 132.

Bravo scored 50 from over 200 balls, as the WI crawled to 306 from 131 overs.

Then the WI foursome ripped through England yet again, even Joseph whose mother passed away during the match was among the wickets.

Everyone is ripping into England, which seems a lil harsh, as everyone is aware of England's faults with the top order scoring, the last 3 tours to WI have seen the batsmen humbled.

England blown away by the Windies again.. 10 wicket win. We are bemoaning our Test form.. reckon the Pommies have more worries leading into the Ashes.

I don't see why... England actually beat India at home and SL away...

WI have an attack that is exploiting their customised new ball...

Crash Craddock is one scribe I will always listen to and he says they are in awful trouble.. 77 and 172 and against the Dukes..the ball they know better than any other. Surely that tells a story. They are relying too much on their all rounders and three keepers. Dont they produced quality specialist batsmen in England any more?

England just beat India at home, which we were not able to achieve, and, beat Sri Lanka away.

When we last played Sri Lanka,  in Sri Lanka, they beat us 3-0.

Craddock gets so much wrong. He's a populist. It's a customised Dukes for West Indies, it is different to their English ball.

England has an opener problem and are trying to solve having no number 3. Buttler averaged over 40 last year, so he is doing okay as a specialist bat. Bairstow has a hundred in the tricky #3 spot, but by no means has #3 or the openers cemented themselves.

This naturally leaves the team in a tricky position. However, what was critical in the first game is the only went in with Anderson on a swing pitch, playing 2 spinnners and left Broad (and Woakes out). Terribly dumb decision, and it cost them the game. Anderson was bowled into the ground in the first innings and Stokes was in the second. So they never had a chance to recover from 77 all out.

The England team is built on a lot of spare parts, but they still thrashed India and Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. It is true that they have a problem of no top order. But they do have a middle order, and a bowling unit that get the job done, especially in England...

The real question is - who else will the WI customized Dukes ball tear through?

From memory we smashed the Windies 4 years ago with that ball.  Why is there no tour this year? Definitely a far better prep for the Ashes than tons of white ball stuff.
Ok see if I can find details of that tour.

• 1st Test: West Indies v Australia at Roseau - Jun 3-5, 2015

  West Indies 148 and 216; Australia 318 and 47/1 (5 ov, target: 47)
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  Australia won by 9 wickets

• ---

• 2nd Test: West Indies v Australia at Kingston - Jun 11-14, 2015

  Australia 399 and 212/2d; West Indies 220 and 114 (42 ov, target: 392)
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  Australia won by 277 

The Frank Worrell Trophy (Australia in West Indies Tests)

Series records Complete index | Most runs | Most wickets | High scores | Best bowling | High team totals Series averages Australia | West Indies

England have a lot of problems in the WI, but I think at home those troubles will be a less apparent.
However they do need to find some openers and Bairstow does not seem to be the answer at 3. Amazingly he averages over 41 when wicket keeping but only around 28 when playing as a specialist batsman. However it is going to be hard to give him back the gloves unless they play Foakes as a specialist batsman. Not sure if there is any chance of that happening. 
Butler and Curran have done quite well but I don't see them being long term test cricketers, especially Curran. Woakes is a lot better bowler than Curran and I don't think he is a worse batsman, probably better there as well. 
Root is a high quality batsman but he failed in both tests when they needed him to stand up and lead with the bat.

Sigh....

No you didn't. This customized Dukes ball was only introduced against Blangladesh last year. You smashed them with a Kookaburra ball or the regular Dukes... The customised ball has seen Holder, Roach, Joseph and Gabriel just carve through batting line ups. And even saw SL carve through their's as well...

Did you even make any attempt to find out about the ball? It is literally customized to stay together (harder and shinier) longer than a regular Dukes. It is a swing bowlers dream. I've seen Holder in NZ and England and never even thought he could swing it much, over there he has it hooping now and he doesn't even take the new ball.

And you're not touring this year because the West Indies will be in England for the World Cup...

Foakes is the best gloveman England has had since Russell. He's dynamite with the gloves. Bairstow was dropped in SL, as there was no room for him, so it's bat 3 or bust right now unless they drop Foakes for not batting well enough.

Opener and 3 has been England's achilles heal for years now. They've tried almost everyone in county.... It is worse with Cook's retirement...

Time ECB put down its collective foot and told Root to fill the problematic #3 spot.

He's not best suited to the job. He spent most of 2018 there and it did not go well.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/303669.html?batting_positionmax1=3;batting_positionmin1=3;batting_positionval1=batting_position;class=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings

He wants to be like Clarke and SWaugh and cash in down lower...

Stokes, Foakes and Woakes might all miss the third test against the West Indies due to injury. Mark Wood is set to replace Curran on the best fast bowling pitch of the series. If all of Stokes, Foakes and Woakes are injured and Curran is dropped it would only leave 12 players to choose including Ali, Rashid and Leach who will not all play.

Bairstow would be the wicket keeper and probably move down the order. 

So the team would be something like, Jennings, Denly, Burns, Root, Butler, Bairstow, Ali, Rashid, Wood, Broad, Anderson. although Curran may earn a reprieve ahead of Rashid if the wicket is not spin friendly.

Actually reading another article Foakes has been dropped despite being fit, Stokes has been named in the 12 man squad as have both Curran and Wood.It seems Curran will miss out unless Stokes is not fit.
So the side will probably be, Jennings, Burns, Denly, Root, Butler, Bairstow, Stokes (Curran), Ali, Wood, Broad, Anderson. 

Butler and Stokes saved England after they got off to another bad start by both being not out in the 60s at the end of day one. All of the top four including Root failed, Root is in terrible form.Root averages 52.8 when not captain and 41.89 before this test when captain. Perhaps there is someone else who could be captain.

Mark Wood and Moen Ali have England well on top after Wood took 5 wickets and Ali 4 wickets to bowl West Indies out for 154. While England are in a position to win the test their fragile batting lineup does not give much confidence, they might be bowled out for a very low score even though they are 0/19 in their second innings.

Apparently, Wood bowled balls up to 150 kph.