RATING OUR MAJOR CRICKET VENUES
* Two out of our three writers have visited the ground and their scores were averaged.
There's something almost spiritual about watching cricket at the Basin Reserve, even when the southerly is whipping down Adelaide Rd causing a loss of feeling in your extremities. The crowd is always appreciative, usually knowledgeable and typically in high spirits. You only need a couple of thousand to make this place rock. — DC Westpac Stadium: Just a couple of kilometres across the CBD from the Basin sits Westpac Stadium, aka the Cake Tin. The contrast couldn't be greater. An awful place to watch cricket, it's cheese- coloured seats are rarely filled and the whole place exudes a sense of a big yellow error. — DC Westpac Stadium: You can't beat a stadium that i s situated a stone's throw from the CBD and right next to the central railway station for those coming from the regions. Perfect location, shame that's it's an awful cricket arena. — DC Saxton Oval: It's in Nelson for a start, which makes it handy for about 1.04 per cent of the population. But that's fine, Nelson's a lovely place to visit. Herein lies the problem: it's not even convenient for Nelsonians, unless you live in Stoke or Richmond, with the pretty oval plonked in the green belt that separates those two satellite suburbs. Trafalgar Park might not have been the prettiest ground, but it was a damn sight handier. — DC Basin Reserve: A ground which treats patrons with the utmost respect through its best communication organ. The electronic Don Neely Scoreboard, named after the local cricketing historian, sits in adjacent harmony with a manual record of the day's play. Where most grounds have opted for the whiz- bang nature of only displaying the immediate statistical and scorebook action on the big screen, the Basin Reserve has a team of cricket tragics roving behind the numbers and letters to ensure the crowd has the whole game as a reference point. Just standing beside it for a few overs gives an appreciation of the enthusiasm and energy literally going on behind the scenes. It i s a poignant reminder of a bygone era, which is increasingly rare in the digital age. — AA Eden Park: Seems to show information too infrequently on what doubles as a video screen. Often punctuated by advertising such as the “value” you'll get for one of the ground's meal combos of burger, chips and drink ($ 17 a few years back) or lining up a man- around- the- ground to bombard unsuspecting patrons with questions like, “How are you enjoying the game?” The trouble is that with no mute button, all those attending are subjected to these insights during breaks in play. — AA Bay Oval, Saxton Oval, University Oval: In truth, Dunedin is best. Food provided by a catering school is hard to top, plus other amenities are good. Saxton Oval a close second, such as pulled pork burgers, the pork caught by the bloke running the stall “up there” with a thumb jerked to the surrounding hills; Bay Oval steady. — DL Eden Park/ McLean Park: Eden Park inevitably overpriced ; McLean Park is more a disgrace considering it sits in prime cuisine land. Why not get wineries involved? Ordinary. — DL