[1] He plays for Northern Districts in the Plunket Shield, Ford Trophy and Super Smash as well as Northland in the Hawke Cup.

Southee is known for his ability to generate late outswing at a brisk pace, and later with off cutting slower balls almost like a faster off-spinner on a damp wicket and death bowling.

His under-19 career included 13 one-day matches – 10 at ICC Under-19 World Cups – and a drawn three-match Youth Test series against India in early 2007.

The game, played at Northern Districts' home ground of Seddon Park in Hamilton, was a charity match for cyclone relief in Bangladesh, and not a full international.

[25] Most of the New Zealand squad stayed together for the first three one day matches that followed, but Southee rejoined the national Under-19 team for the 2008 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia.

[27] He had an immediate impact in the first day, dismissing Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss in his second and third overs, and then later claiming the wicket of Kevin Pietersen.

He played a single test match at Lord's, taking 0/59 in a drawn game, and seven one-day internationals (five against England and one each against the other two hosts).

Through the 2008–09 summer Southee competed for a place in the New Zealand team with more experienced bowlers like Iain O'Brien and Ian Butler.

[40][41] New Zealand named a 12-man squad for the first three ODIs with Mills returning alongside Southee and fellow seam bowlers Iain O'Brien and Ian Butler.

Southee retained one of New Zealand Cricket's 20 player contracts for the 12 months from 1 August 2009[47] but through the winter season was left out of Black Caps teams.

In late July and early August the Australian Institute of Sport hosted a four-team tournament including "emerging players" teams from New Zealand, India and South Africa.

Within a week of the tournament finishing in Australia, Southee arrived in Chennai, India to play four two-day games and a 50-over match with the New Zealand A side.

[52] With bowler Daryl Tuffey unavailable due to a broken hand, Southee regained a place in the New Zealand side that travelled to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to play three ODIs and two Twenty20s against Pakistan.

Before the series Southee played for an invitational XI in a three-day match against the tourists[56] but he "didn't think I bowled very well"[57] and was omitted for the first two tests.

[65] Ten months after missing selection for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Southee played the first three of New Zealand's five games in the 2010 edition, taking a single wicket in each,[65] but was dropped on form.

Southee, batting at 8, played through to the end of the 90-over day with Kane Williamson in a partnership that "prevented Pakistan's complete domination",[79] earning his second test half-century in the process.

He was named by the ICC as the 12th man, and only New Zealander, in the "team of the tournament"[87] having finished with 18 wickets at 17.33 (Shahid Afridi and Zaheer Khan jointly topped the wicket-takers).

[91] The New Zealand team employed former South African fast bowler Allan Donald as a bowling coach from January 2011.

[98] On 26 August 2021, Southee was included in the Kolkata Knight Riders squad for the second phase of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE.

[99] New Zealand's season began with a short tour to Zimbabwe which included their first test match since January 2011, ten months before.

Partnering Neil Wagner and Doug Bracewell, Trent Boult and Southee were called up for the 2nd test at Sabina Park and took 4 and 3 wickets respectively.

The test series was drawn one match all – including New Zealand's first win in Sri Lanka in over a decade – and Southee played a major part.

After getting dropped in the 1st test versus South Africa for Jeetan Patel he came on as a substitute fielder and caught Hashim Amla.

[110] On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Vancouver Knights in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament.

[111][112] In August 2019, in the series against Sri Lanka, Southee became the fourth bowler for New Zealand to take 250 wickets in Test cricket.

His final tally is the second-highest for New Zealand in the format, behind Sir Richard Hadlee (431 wickets) and the eleventh-highest by any pace bowler.

[127] In October 2019, Kane Williamson was ruled out of T20I series against England due to a hip injury,[128] with Southee named as captain.

[129] Southee was named the full time Blackcaps Test captain in December 2022 after the resignation of Kane Williamson from the role.

[136] While not as quick as fellow new-ball bowler Trent Boult (and the fact that he does not keep bowling at 136–141 km/h for long spells in tests), Southee's meticulous accuracy and well disguised variations have allowed him to develop into a genuine spearhead.

In 2008 when Southee was first selected in the national team Richard Hadlee remarked of him "He runs in relatively straight, he gets through his action nicely and he moves the ball, particularly away from the batsman".