Buttler vows to raise standards to make most of Bay of Plenty
Keeper admits England were ‘sloppy’ in first ODI All-rounder reveals plan to win back Test place
Some of the world’s most scenic cricket grounds are to be found in New Zealand. None could be so beautiful as Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, but Bay Oval is pretty lovely, in the Mount Maunganui suburb of Tauranga, where England meet the hosts tomorrow (1am UK time).
It will be the second game in the five-match one-day-international series and the first day/night international England have played under LED floodlights.
Bay Oval is not an intimate ground – no hint of Horsham or Queen’s Park in Chesterfield – because it is right beside the port. Mount Maunganui is on a peninsula or spit: on one side, Tauranga harbour and the port, where logs depart from their native forests in container ships headed for the Far East; on the other, the white sandy beaches of the Pacific coast.
It is the Mount itself, only a mile away, which makes the ground unique: consisting of lava and more than 700 feet high, its lower half was a Maori fort, with trenches cut into the hillside, while its upper half is luxuriant vegetation. On top of one of the six floodlights at Bay Oval is a camera that will be trained on the Mount through sunshine and the forecast showers.
England have not played at Bay Oval. Few people have. It is a ground in the making, with another tier of grass banking finished only a fortnight ago. The Bay of Plenty region is booming (its very name is good for marketing), and with it the Mount as a tourist venue and retirement home. And as an international cricket venue, too, although, as yet, there are no more than two permanent buildings – a long single-storey pavilion and a groundsman’s shed-cum-toilets – to go with the marquees and grassy banks.
“There was nothing here two years ago,” said a security officer at the ground, watching athletes from the local college train on the outfield. Nowhere else would security be so relaxed, but this is New Zealand, and cricket is just a way to pass the time before the rugby season, which is starting. If there is a capacity crowd, it will be no more than 8,000.
New Zealand first played here two years ago, and the floodlights, with their light-emitting diodes, were switched on last year. Unlike older floodlights, they can be flicked on and off at the touch of a switch. So, it has to be a day/night fixture, as all three of England’s ODIS in North Island are, whereas the subsequent two in South Island will be day games.
Bay Oval has a natural turf pitch – the third game in Wellington will have a drop-in – on which run-scoring has been easy. In 20-over, not 50-over, internationals, New Zealand’s left-handed opener Colin Munro has hit two centuries at two runs a ball. To get back in this series, England need to smarten up their fielding and wicketkeeping, which let New Zealand off the hook in the opening game, as England’s wicketkeeper Jos Buttler admitted.
“I think we were a little bit sloppy for our standards – especially on small grounds like that [Hamilton], defending the boundary and shotstopping in the ring obviously highlights it because the ball runs away. That’s an area we need to improve. We missed a few chances as well. We need to take the half-chances when two good players get in.”