'It's exciting to play three Test matches in a short space of time' - Southee prepared for heavy workload in the build up to WTC final

Before locking horns against India in the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship, New Zealand will be up against England in the two-match Test series starting from June 2. Many feel that the Test series against England can be a cause of worry for the Black Caps as they will be playing as many as three Test matches in a span of 20 days.

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However, New Zealand’s decorated seamer Tim Southee isn’t worried about the workload as he believes that it is always exciting to play Test fixtures in a short span of time. Southee revealed that the entire Kiwi team is excited to play the Test matches as it is not often that they play so many games in the purest format of the game. The pacer revealed that the players are working hard to prepare themselves physically and mentally for the upcoming assignment.

"It's exciting to play three Test matches in a short space of time. It is something that the team doesn't get to do that often. We've come off a bit of a break, which has been nice, and (we have) been able to get some conditioning into our bodies, the guys that have come from the IPL and are going to be playing some cricket.

"So the guys are refreshed in some sort of way, using the next couple of weeks to get ourselves prepared and ready to play three Test matches. They are in quick succession but we have had a chance to prepare physically leading into this with some strength and conditioning stuff. Now, it's just getting our loads to a point over the coming weeks so that we can rock on to those three Test matches," Tim said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Further, the 32-year-old claimed that they won’t be treating England series as a preparation for the WTC final and will give their best shot to defeat the English side. Southee believes that England is a pretty tough side in their home conditions thus it will be exciting to play against them.

"England are very tough in their own conditions. They obviously perform pretty well in these conditions. They've got a few new guys who are probably going to be very excited at the opportunity to play for England and try and get their mark on international cricket over the summer. I'm sure, as it always is when New Zealand plays England that's usually a pretty exciting, pretty close Test series and I imagine this is going to be no different," the seamer concluded.