Whangarei may host test

Northland Cricket gained an ally in their march toward hosting their first test match at Cobham Oval with New Zealand Cricket president Denis Currie backing a bid to bring Zimbabwe here this year.
Currie was the guest of honour at Northland Cricket's (NCA) prizegiving ceremony on Friday night at the Mark Cromie Indoor Centre.
He said that the progress made by the NCA in getting the Whangarei ground to test status deserved recognition from NZC.
"I'm not too sure how many tests we'll be playing against Zimbabwe - I'm not sure it's actually been decided yet, it may be three - and it would be great to get one of them up here," he said.
"Personally, I think it would be a great venue - it's a designated cricket ground - not a shared rugby ground and I'll put my voice behind any move to have a test here because it would be a great venue for test cricket."
Currie was appointed president of NZC at the end of 2009 - largely a figurehead role - but he is no lightweight.
He has been on the board of NZC for 19 years and has a long career as a contributor to cricket in New Zealand and an active supporter at the grassroots. He was Auckland Cricket Association chairman for six years and is a life member of the association and of the Papatoetoe District Cricket Club.
He was called on to present Brian Dunning's Black Hawke cap to his family and to present Russell Smith with his ICC volunteer's medal, as well as addressing the awards' ceremony.
"Dunning was one of the icons of New Zealand Cricket. His premature death was very sad, he was rated as one of the best players to ever play Hawke Cup cricket," Currie said.
To mark 100 years of Hawke Cup cricket, a team of the century was selected - from everyone who had played in the regional competition - with two former Northland players, Dunning and Robert Anderson, included.
Long-serving Northland junior cricket organiser Russell Smith became one of the last to receive his volunteer's medal.
"Those ICC medals are given to people who toil behind the scenes for cricket and don't always get a lot of thanks for it - people like groundsmen and scorers and people like Russell that do everything, really," Currie said.
The NZC president was also delighted to observe the 50th reunion of the Northland team who played the English MCC touring team at the old Cobham Oval in 1961.
"When you get around your teammates and talk about a game you played 40 or 50 years ago against the MCC, the telling of the story may have changed over the years, but you still want to talk about it and that's cricket."
Currie said it was good that so many of the team from back then could get together with the 14, 15 and 16-year-olds who had achieved so much during the 2010-11 season, saying the young players could only benefit from the experience.