Cricket: Sellout crowd for day-night clash at Eden Park

By RICHARD BOOCK

England's strong fightback at Napier has resulted in a sellout crowd for tomorrow night's fourth limited-over international match at Eden Park.

Auckland cricket officials are expecting a crowd of 35,000 for the day-nighter, which rates as one of the biggest New Zealand cricket gates since the 1992 World Cup.

The keen interest comes as some relief for organisers after New Zealand took out the first two matches comfortably and threatened to wrap up the five-match series on Wednesday night in Napier.

However, a startling form-reversal from the tourists paved the way for a comprehensive 43-run defeat of New Zealand and sent the series to Auckland with both sides still with a chance of winning.

Auckland Cricket's executive director Lindsay Crocker said that, although the City of Sails usually attracted the country's biggest crowds, the prospect of watching England and a closely-fought series carried extra appeal.

"This is going to be as good a crowd as we've had since I've been here, and possibly since the bumper crowds during the 1992 World Cup," he said.

"The fact that the series is still alive probably had a bit of an effect on sales.

"We sold the last tickets today, but I think it would have been a very good turnout whatever happened in Napier the other night."

As has been the trend in recent years, a drop-in pitch will be used for the Eden Park ODI and Crocker was hopeful that it would play reasonably well and provide a good vehicle for a close match.

The drop-in pitch attracted some flak last season after New Zealand were demolished in the first test against Pakistan, but it is believed that the technology and understanding is improving each year and that this summer's surface will be better than the previous one.

If it does threaten to play low and slow, New Zealand may consider reverting to the combination they employed for the much talked-about pitch at Wellington Stadium last weekend, when they opted to play batsman Brendon McCullum at the expense of paceman Ian Butler.