Auckland, Jun 28 (IANS): New Zealand pace bowler Tim Southee has pitched for his country be given more longer Test series after his team's victory over the Virat Kohli-led India in the World Test Championship final at Southampton recently.

Of the 18 bilateral series the Black Caps have played in the last five years, four have been three-match series, while the rest have been two-match series.

India, who will take on hosts England in a five-Test series in August-September this year, have also played 18 series, but a dozen of them have comprised at least three Tests. Besides, they have also played a number of four- and five-Test series during the corresponding period.

"I guess one of our strengths as a side is that we sort of just concentrate on what's put in front of us, and what we try and achieve as a group, (but) I guess playing more Test cricket as a whole would be nice," Southee was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo on Monday.

"We don't play that many three-match series, so I guess just being able to play more Test matches and hopefully more three-match series rather than two-match series. But yeah, I think it's tough with future tours programme (FTP) already being in place up to now, but just being able to perform at this level for a number of years and being a consistent side, I guess we have that right to play more Test cricket," added Southee, who returned figures of 4/48 in the second innings of the WTC final to demolish India by eight wickets.

On what he thought would be the advantage of playing a longer Test series, Southee said, it will prepare the side for tougher challenges.

"As players, Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game, and you always want to play more. It's something that we haven't played a lot of, three-match series, so to be able to test yourself over three matches rather than just two matches -- it's obviously a lot more taxing, it's a tougher battle to get yourself up and go again over three matches, but that's the beauty of it."