Eden Park a cricketing gem, so don’t change a thing
OPINION: The boundaries are too short at Eden Park so let’s ban international cricket there. Easy. Case closed. Reading and listening to all the scorn and outrage directed at the country’s largest capacity cricket ground, you’d think it regularly hosted one-sided matches, produced an unpredictable drop-in pitch of varying quality, and struggled to pull a crowd amid a vast glare of empty yellow seats. Oops, wrong city.
Let’s get this straight. Auckland’s Eden Park is an unfit host venue after nearly 500 runs were scored in an even Twenty20 contest on a belter of a pitch, 32 sixes hit, and a crowd of 33,692 poured in on a balmy Friday night?
The argument has so many holes it’s like drinking a milkshake out of a colander.
If cricket tragics were to list the 10 best home international matches of the past five years, Eden Park would have seven or eight strong contenders. And the tiny straight boundaries, a 45m top edge from stumps to rope, would barely rate a mention.
Two tests: England in 2013 and India a year later were crackers that went down to the wire, even contests between bat and ball. The South Africa World Cup semifinal is a clear No 1, and the low-scoring thriller against Australia (yes, bowlers can prosper there too) a few weeks earlier not far behind for tension, drama and atmosphere. New Zealand chased 152, nine down, that sunny Saturday as Kane Williamson raised the roof of the main stand.
Last year’s Marcus Stoinis Chappell-Hadlee Trophy ODI and the ODI tie against India in 2014 were other nailbiters not easily forgotten. That’s saying something in the endless white ball churn of a summer.
Runfests like Friday’s are the exception rather than the rule in Auckland where the pitch can nibble and bounce, and the ball can swing. Colin Munro and D’Arcy Short both had early luck with edges racing to the rope; on Wednesday in the final it could be a first-baller.
Short straight boundaries make bowlers and captains nervous but it doesn’t change the fundamentals of limited overs bowling. Concerted pressure, accurate lines adhering to a plan, yorkers and slower balls all take wickets no matter the size of a ground. The margin of error just gets smaller, and against the hitting power on both sides it can go awry very quickly in T20.
And, importantly, it’s the same for both sides. Set 244 to win, David Warner didn’t put the cue in the rack; he sensed an opportunity. The Black Caps have local knowledge but home advantage is negligible, and the short boundaries even up the contest, if anything. They’ve also received some hidings there, notably two from South Africa last summer.
Cricket these days is an entertainment product, and there’s so much of it there’s an increasing struggle to lure fans through the gates in New Zealand. If a parent chose last Friday as their child’s first live cricket match, it’s difficult to think of a better introduction. And a few may return on Wednesday where New Zealand Cricket will hope for another 30,000-plus turnout to boost the coffers by another $1 million or so.
That’s another thing, why on earth would cash-strapped NZC want to shift the biggest matches away from such a cash cow nestled in a concrete jungle?
Hosting the country’s first daynight test there against England on March 22 remains the right call, at the only 10,000-plus northern venue where its last two tests were cliffhangers. The pitch with its pace and bounce, and the vagaries of the pink ball will give the bowlers enough encouragement, and fans from both countries will turn up for novelty value. If you sit at long on or long off, it’s the best (certainly closest) vantage point in world cricket.
It may be labelled soulless, and fans will whine about the public transport or quality of food, but the most important thing - the on-field action - consistently delivers in Auckland.
Cricket has its share of problems but the Garden of Eden is not one of them. Just let it entertain you.