NZ’s pink-ball epic
The first day/night test on home soil promises to be truly riveting
Afriend’s mum recently told me that the key to happiness is having something to look forward to. As long as you’re excited about something coming up you’ll be fine. A holiday, a visiting relative or even better, a pink ball test at Eden Park.
Good news! There’s one in 10 days. England v NZ. The first day/night test on home soil. Get yourself to Eden Park if you can. If you can’t there’s always TV and iHeartRadio.
You can enjoy Ian Smith and his team or press the futuristic yellow button on your Sky remote for the saucy and informed Alternative Commentary Collective. What a time to be alive. Saturday’s ODI series loss hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm at all. I’m still celebrating The Tongue Taylor’s 181. Plus it’s a different game with different players coming in. I’m a New Zealander. I love our team. I love watching them play.
People say test cricket is boring. I say calling test cricket boring is boring. Sure it can get a bit boring from time to time. But that’s the point. You enjoy the things you spend time and effort on more deeply.
Black Caps coach extraordinaire Mike Hesson says: “You invest time in tests. A team gets fully explored. It’s not just the top half or the bottom. You get challenged as the pitch changes, as the light deteriorates, as the ball gets old. Then new. You need to show skill for long periods of time.”
A five-day test is an epic journey. Frodo could’ve flown a giant eagle direct from The Shire to Mount Doom, hiffed the ring in and flown home. His saga would’ve been shorter but not better. A good story has struggles,