Tim Southee Joins England Coaching Staff for Summer Test Series

Tim Southee is set to join former New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum, in England's first Test match of the summer against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge next week.

He will be officially named a "Specialist Skills Consultant" in the England setup, but his short-term appointment is essentially a like-for-like replacement for Anderson, who brought his extensive international experience directly to the backroom staff after his 21-year Test career ended at Lord's over the weekend.

At the end of England's 2-1 series victory in New Zealand in December, Southee, 36, announced his retirement from Test cricket. During his 16-year career, he had amassed a national record 776 wickets in international formats.

He shared the field with McCullum at Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL and Middlesex in the T20 Blast during that time, and they played together 170 times, including 78 when McCullum was captain. The 107th and final Test match in Hamilton ended with McCullum giving Southee a bottle of red wine signed by the England team.

The five Test matches against India that start in June and July, the white-ball series against the West Indies, and the one-off Zimbabwe Test, which starts on May 22, are all part of Southee's England contract. His time will come to an end on August 4, following the Oval Test, when he is scheduled to return to action with Birmingham Phoenix in the Men's Hundred.