Tim Southee uncertain about his involvement in Ashes as England’s bowling consultant

Tim Southee, the former New Zealand cricketer, is currently a part of England setup as their bowling consultant after joining them in the summer for a one-off four-day Test match against Zimbabwe. But the 36-year-old has said in a latest interview that his involvement in the Ashes 2025-26 series as the bowling consultant of England against Australia is uncertain, stating that he is “still working through” it.

After retiring from international cricket in New Zealand colours, taking 391 wickets in 107 Test matches, Tim Southee has done an excellent job with England in the bowling consultant role. He has helped elevate the next generation of English pacers following the retirement of James Anderson and Stuart Board, who were his counterparts for

the majority of their careers.

We're still working through that at the moment. We'll see what happens over the next little while: Tim Southee

Moreover, the reason behind Tim Southee potentially missing out on being a part of Ashes is his participation in the International League T20 tournament (ILT20), which is set to begin in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on December 2. While speaking to the media ahead of England’s first T20I of the three-match series against New Zealand, he addressed the matter by saying, “We're still working through that at the moment. We'll see what happens over the next little while."

England have announced their playing XI to take on New Zealand in the first T20I, set to take play at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Friday, October 17, and it reads: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (c), Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Jordan Cox, Brydon Carse, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, and Luke Wood. With a few of the players in the squads for white-ball series in New Zealand a part of the Ashes series, England will be hoping for them to come out of it unscathed.