Southee’s in-flight incident with female passenger ‘blown out of proportion’, says mother

AUCKLAND - New Zealand star Tim Southee’s mother has claimed that an incident involving the fast bowler on the World Cup team’s flight to India was ‘blown out of proportion’.

It was earlier reported that Southee was being investigated by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) about the incident with a woman on an Emirates flight.

“I feel sick. I’ve just had a text from Tim and I turned on the radio because I hadn’t heard anything and I’m just gutted,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Joanne Southee, as saying.

“It’s just all blown out of proportion, nothing happened … you don’t know what this does to a parent, it’s just absolutely gut-wrenching,” she added.

Meanwhile, Players’ Association Chief Executive Heath Mills said that he had spoken to captain Daniel Vettori and Southee to get their version of events.

He confirmed that Southee was drinking at the on-board bar, where he received an invitation from a female passenger to visit the first-class cabin. The cricketers were in business class.

Southee was asked to leave first-class because he was not entitled to be there. He returned to his teammates, but the woman later reappeared in the business section, sat on his knee and gave him a goodnight kiss.

“I spoke to Tim and Daniel and I’m completely comfortable that nothing untoward happened,” Mills said.

“The initial comments from team management were disappointing and not helpful. I feel so sorry for Tim’s family. Imagine what his mother had to go through for a couple of hours,” he added. (ANI)