Boxing Day test returns to Hagley
Call it a small victory for the cricket purist, as the Boxing Day test returns to Christchurch while a mooted pink ball test is stymied by a Bangladeshi roadblock.
Hagley Oval’s status as the country’s premier test venue got another tick from New Zealand Cricket, who confirmed yesterday the return of the Boxing Day test after a four-year absence, against Sri Lanka on December 26.
NZC finally announced 40 days of Black Caps cricket against Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, whose board u-turned on a scheduled day-night test in Hamilton on February 28 due to lack of preparation against the pink ball.
India are the headline act but won’t play any tests, with five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals including double-headers with the White Ferns against India’s women.
Auckland’s Eden Park misses out on a home ODI for the first time in recent memory due to resource consent restrictions, after broadcaster Star Sports stipulated late starts for its Indian audience.
The India ODIs will all start at 3pm – including one at Napier’s re-turfed McLean Park – while T20s in Wellington and Hamilton start at 8pm and run past 11pm. Eden Park hosts just two T20s, with Star Sports giving permission for the India game to start at 7pm after the White Ferns at 3pm.
New Zealand will host five tests – one more than last summer – with Sri Lanka kicking off the international season with a December 15 test at Wellington’s Basin Reserve before spending Christmas in Christchurch.
It will be Hagley Oval’s second Boxing Day test after they played the same opponents in 2014 when Brendon McCullum lit up day one with a knock of 195 off 134 balls.
NZC chief operating officer Anthony Crummy said the way the schedule fell it was a good opportunity to restore the Boxing Day test which Wellington hosted five times between 1998-2003.
With the Black Caps confirmed for a long-awaited return to Melbourne for next year’s Boxing Day test it would be a season by season arrangement at home.
‘‘Boxing Day cricket is a feature of our summer, whether it’s a test or an ODI, it’s a huge part of the traditions of cricket. We just need to be flexible how we fit it together,’’ he said.
Hagley Oval and the Basin Reserve host two tests each – against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – while Seddon Park’s solitary test will be with red ball instead of pink.
NZC planned for the country’s second day-night test in Hamilton but Bangladesh had second thoughts.
‘‘We were hopeful we would get it across the line but ultimately Bangladesh thought they weren’t prepared enough for it.’’
Persuading India to agree to a day-nighter for one of their two tests next season will be the next challenge, but Crummy said it hadn’t yet been discussed.
Mt Maunganui’s impressive Bay Oval missed out to Seddon Park for a test as NZC kept the five-day games to the traditional venues.
But the holiday hot spot was the big winner overall with two India ODIs on January 26 and 28, after its traditional New Year double header on January 3 and 5 against Sri Lanka.
McLean Park hosts India ODIs against the Black Caps on January 23 and the White Ferns a day later, as well as a Bangladesh ODI on February 13. It will be more than two years since its previous cricket international after drainage problems saw a complete returf.
Dunedin fared the worst of the main centres, securing a solitary ODI against Bangladesh on February 20.