Runs, wickets and plenty of drama
What does Eden Park have in store for its 50th cricket test? The suburban Auckland ground will reach the milestone this afternoon, when the historic day-night fixture between the Black Caps and England starts at 2pm.
It joins the Basin Reserve in Wellington, host of 61 tests, in reaching a half century, and it beckons to be a while before any other New Zealand ground gets there, with Hamilton’s Seddon Park the closest, some 26 matches away (Lancaster Park in Christchurch hosted 40 but is no longer in use).
It is fitting that England are the opposition for this occasion, as they were the visitors back in
1930, when the ground hosted its first test, which was the third in New Zealand’s maiden series.
As far as tests go, Eden Park’s debut wasn’t one to remember. Heavy rain set in the day the before the match was due to begin, and there was no play on the first and second of three scheduled days. When play was possible on the final day, England made 330-4 before declaring at tea, and New Zealand made 96-1 in reply. To make up for the damp squib, a fourth test was arranged at the same venue soon afterwards.
Across the 49 test matches at Eden Park so far, New Zealand has managed 10 wins and visiting countries 15, with 24 draws. Australia and England have each won there four times, while Bangladesh (who have never played a test there), Sri Lanka (who have played one) and Zimbabwe (who have played two) are the three countries without a win.
In recent times, the ground has played host to some classics.
There have been eight tests since the turn of the century, and six of them have been gripping, even if they do include a Black Caps loss - to Australia by just 62 runs, in 2000 - and a draw - with England in 2013, where the visitors’ final pair of Matt Prior and Monty Panesar survived 19 nervous balls on the final afternoon.
The first of the four wins, against England in 2002, came after Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan blazed away late into the fourth night, allowing the visitors to be set a target on the final day, where they were all out
79 runs short.
The second was against South Africa in 2004, where Scott Styris made 170 and Chris Cairns 158, Chris Martin took 6-76 and 5-104 and Stephen Fleming led the way as the Black Caps chased down the target of 51 in quick-fire fashion on the final morning.
The third was against the West Indies in 2006, where Shane Bond took 7-126 and Daniel Vettori 5-99 across both innings. The tourists were 148-0 chasing
291 in the fourth innings, but crumbled to be 263 all out.
The most recent one was four years ago against India, where Brendon McCullum made 224 in a first innings effort of 503, and the quick trio of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner took all 20 of the visitors’ wickets.
There were more great moments before those, of course, but they are the ones freshest in fans’ memories.
With two evenly-matched teams in action, will the next five days produce a match to join them? You just hope weather won’t play too big a part, as it did
88 years ago. Rain is forecast for the weekend, and if it were to ruin this test, it would be quite a shame.