Crucket

The biggest day in my cricket season, day two of the 3rd test, the day I spent at the Basin Reserve watching live cricket, and it was arse! The Black Caps played meekly and failed meekly. They were dismissed for 197, crawling along at 3 runs an over. Worst day’s cricket all season.

It is hard work spending a day on the bank at the Basin on a typical Wellington day. The incessant wind evaporates your strength. The sun won’t stay out from behind the clouds for long enough to keep you warm, but is bright enough to give you a headache from the glare. Your legs and buttocks ache from stopping you slipping down onto the people sitting below.

But when the game is on in town, where would you be but at the ground? To hear the ball hit the bat, to see the game unfold, to watch in person the players you’ve been following since the first game of the tour.

Here are the Black Caps arriving, looking confident with just one wicket to take:

Then once they started batting, they initially showed the required application:

While we enjoyed the atmosphere of the bank and the appropriate culinary delights:

But then the Indian bowlers started to exert themselves. Not this chap so much:

Though he did give us a few demonstrations of the poise that makes him such an exciting prospect:

Instead it was the guy at the other end, Zaheer Khan with 5/65 (click on the photo and wait a bit):

Then the fans started to flock to their heros:

And cheered them on from the crowd:

By the time they returned to the field for the third session, the writing was on the wall, and it read 140/7:

Another day of drama witnessed (largely) from the bank at the Basin Reserve under Mt Victoria:

It is not clear from the Waitangi weekend Venn diagram what Wellington tribe you are from if you choose to go to the cricket on Waitangi Day. Could we possibly fit in the grand intersection, in that big exclamation mark.

Cricket at the Basin. Wgtn–Otago 20-20 by the way – Otago win by 117 runs. Excellent crowd. Sitting at midwicket behind the practice nets I couldn’t see much of the play and couldn’t see the scoreboard. So I was only ever vaguely aware of what was going on – basically, Wellington behind from ball one. But beautiful on the grass, under the sun. The bright sun bleaches the view and the wind muffles the sound, making the game seem distant. The occasional *crack* from the field, or a gasp from the crowd, but the dominant sound is the *burrr* of the canvas sightscreen vibrating violently when the wind picks up.