Cobham Oval brings back old memories

The thought: "My, how the times have changed" ran through Intikhab Alam's mind as Pakistan's team bus arrived in Whangarei on Saturday.
The Warehouse is now situated on the ground where Alam played his first international cricket game in Whangarei - at the old Cobham Oval ground - in 1964.
From 1959 to 1977, Alam played 47 Test matches and four one-day internationals for Pakistan, and captained the side from 1972 to 1974, and coached the 1992 Cricket World Cup-winning Pakistani team.
These days, the 69-year-old manages the national team, who began their three-day match against the New Zealand X1 yesterday at the "new" and revamped Cobham Oval, established in 2003. He has been most impressed with the Oval's upgrade.
"I've been here seven or eight times now - as a player, captain of the Pakistan side, then coach and now as manager.
"It is a wonderful spot here," he said.
On his first visit to New Zealand, and Whangarei in 1964 with the touring Pakistan team, Alam played at the old ground at Okara Park.
"But now there is a Warehouse there ... the new ground looks beautiful, it has good facilities - it's very pleasant," he said, marvelling at the development.
The wicket was a little on the slow side for Pakistan on day one of the match, but it was a good warm-up wicket ahead of their first Test against the Black Caps, starting on Friday in Hamilton, Alam said.
"That is the purpose of our visit here ... to warm up for the two Test matches and the six ODIs we have coming up. The team are very confident - we've just played the Twenty20 games, where we finished well winning the last match - and that brings a lot of confidence into the team," he said.
Five changes were made to the team at the end of the T20 games - Muhammad Hafeez, Suhail Tanveer, Azhar Ali, Misbahul Haq (captain) and Taufeeq Umar have joined the team for the Tests, while Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shahzad, Abdur Razzak and Fowad Alam have returned to Pakistan.
"This tour is our preparation for the World Cup - we play six ODIs here, and obviously the more you play the better you are going to get and you try to fix the mistakes you have made ... we get back to Pakistan on February 7, one week before we go to Bangladesh for a couple of World Cup warm-up matches and then we play all of our preliminary matches in Sri Lanka. It's a very tight and busy schedule for us," said Alam.
Alam said it was unfortunate the team were unable to spare a day to do some sightseeing around Northland.
"It's a real shame, it's a beautiful spot up here ... we practice in our spare time - our main priority is our physical fitness and to find the right combinations together."
New Zealand playing conditions were different to the subcontinent grounds Pakistan were used to, but the team were getting used to the greener wickets.
Day two of the match between Pakistan and the New Zealand X1 continues today at Cobham Oval from 10.30am.
Northland pace bowler Tim Southee is in the playing 12 for the match against Pakistan which started yesterday.
Dean Brownlie was also added to the side to replace Jesse Ryder who has an inflamed shoulder but is expected to be available for selection in the first Test against Pakistan starting on January 7 in Hamilton.
The team is: Brent Arnel, Dean Brownlie, Trent Boult, James Franklin, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Tim McIntosh, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori (c), BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, Reece Young.
The teams have agreed to use 12 players in the match.