The Basin Reserve hits 50

BY JONATHAN MILLMOW

The Basin Reserve is frequently home to half-centuries. Now it is about to post its own.

When New Zealand play Pakistan next month it will be the 50th test match played on the ground, making it the 11th venue to reach that milestone.

The others are Lord's, The Oval, Old Trafford, Headingley and Trent Bridge (all England) the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Sydney Cricket Ground, Adelaide Oval and Brisbane's Gabba (all Australia) and Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad.

Cricket historian Don Neely has been to 47 of the 49 tests at the Basin and is going to mark the half-century with a book to be given away when New Zealand host Australia in March.

"You can't do a book for the 50th test without including the 50th test, so we'll get all the stats updated," Neely said.

"It's magical that the Basin will be the first New Zealand ground to the mark because for so long it trailed Eden Park and Lancaster Park until they had their problems with rugby and whatever."

Neely has seen it all, from the days when the Basin went from rectangle to oval in 1980 and then the building of the RA Vance Stand in 1981.

He's seen groundsmen come and go, sightscreens and pitch covers blown to all parts, records set and broken and the first Boxing Day test in New Zealand in 1998, which remains one of his fondest memories.

Neely remembers the period when New Zealand went unbeaten at the ground for 24 years (18 tests, six wins, 12 draws) until Australia beat them in 1993.

"At that stage Wes Armstrong had prepared 18 wickets at the Basin without New Zealand losing a game. It was a remarkable fortress."

Neely loves to turn over statistics and wonders whether any of the current crop can join former heroes in the test against Pakistan from December 3-7.

Only John Wright and Martin Crowe have scored 1000 test runs at the Basin and, predictably, Richard Hadlee is the only bowler to have taken 50 wickets.

"Hadlee has 53 wickets and [Chris] Martin 47 and [Daniel] Vettori 46, so if one of them gets six wickets that could be interesting.

"Martin has four five-wicket bags at the Basin. It seems to suit bowlers who work hard and bang the ball into the wicket."

Neely rates New Zealand's first win over England in 1978 as the ground's finest moment, but the Boxing Day test against India in 1998 also ranks highly, when swing bowler Simon Doull took the first seven wickets in a sublime display.

Hadlee and Crowe get the nod for the greatest individual efforts, though Neely struggles to split Crowe's maiden century against England in 1983-84 and his 299 against Sri Lanka in 1991.

 

FAB FOUR: DON NEELY'S BASINFUL OF MEMORIES

Best bowling: Richard Hadlee, 10-100 v England, 1977-78

"From an emotional point of view it is hard to go past Paddles v England.

"It was the first time New Zealand had beaten England and he got four in the first and six [for 26] in the second. He was magnificent, the bounce was very uneven, people weren't sure to go back or forward.

"That was a bad pitch, one of the worst I've seen at the Basin."

Best innings: Martin Crowe,100 v England, 1983-84

"Hogan got five hundreds at the Basin and I rather liked the first one he got. It was exactly 100. We were way behind and it was his maiden century. Crowe's 299 was memorable too."

Best memory: New Zealand v Australia, 1946

"It changed my life. I was 10 or 11 and in standard four and I had always played softball.

"One day a master came around and said, 'There will be a test played at the end of March and I will take all boys who played cricket to the Basin Reserve.'

"I sat on the grass – it was late starting because they had to change pitch at the last minute. At lunchtime New Zealand were 4-37 and I went to the fish and chip shop across the road. When I came out we were 42 all out.

"I thought that was good because my school team had made 38 just before that and our master had said that was a very good score.

"I started reading cricket books after that because there were none on softball at the library and I never looked back."

Biggest disappointment: v Pakistan, 2003

"Shoaib Akhtar's test. At stumps on the third evening we had a comfortable lead and we were only two wickets down. Next day [Mark] Richardson slashed at a wide one from Shoaib and next thing we lost seven wickets for eight runs and Shoaib took 6-30. He was electrifyingly fast.

"It was just from being in a position of such strength. It was one of the biggest leads we ever squandered and it was largely through the skill of the bowler."

- © Fairfax NZ News