Cricket: Eden Park brought in from test wilderness

Hamish Marshall in action at Eden Park in 2006. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Eden Park's test cricket drought is coming to an end.

England's tour of New Zealand in the 2012-13 season will include three tests, one of which has been pencilled in for the Auckland ground.

The last test at the venue was a 27-run win over the West Indies in March 2006. Since then 22 tests have been played in New Zealand but once New Zealand Cricket decided on a policy of using boutique-style grounds to host five-day internationals, Auckland and Christchurch, with the now-broken AMI Stadium, dropped off the roster.

With England traditionally being NZC's biggest incoming tour in terms of visiting supporters, and Auckland Cricket's prompting, Eden Park is back in the test game.

"We're delighted that New Zealand Cricket were prepared to consider our request and stage a test," Auckland Cricket chairman Rex Smith said last night.

"It's fantastic to have test cricket coming back to Auckland, and especially an England test which we think will have benefits for Eden Park as well."

NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said putting a test on Eden Park did not represent an about-face in the policy on the style of venue they preferred for five-day games, but it was likely to be reviewed after the England test.

"The NZC board felt it was the right time to look to re-test the water around putting tests into large stadia and we're very conscious Auckland hasn't seen test cricket for a long time.

"There are certain things that need to happen before then, [such as] restoring practice facilities and the need to be convinced about the performance of portable pitches for test cricket."

Both Smith and Vaughan acknowledged that Eden Park was not the perfect configuration for international cricket, but ways and means will be investigated to minimise the concrete jungle appearance and feel.

"We have to make sure it's an environment where spectators want to go and witness first hand rather than stay at home and watch on TV," Vaughan said.

Smith hoped that if the England test was a success it could open the door to more high-interest tests, such as against Australia, South Africa or India.

"It would be a shame not to use it," Smith said.

Eden Park's outer oval will be returned as a first-class venue for next summer and there have been plans to try to develop that into a test ground, with a capacity of about 10,000.

Investment is needed, but as Vaughan admitted, post-Rugby World Cup and the development of Eden Park, this is not the ideal time to be searching for funding.

As long as NZC sticks with the boutique philosophy, Auckland will have a problem, and Smith acknowledged that.

Vaughan's ideal outcome would be a cricket-specific ground in Auckland with a good capacity.

So on one hand while all parties want the Eden Park test to succeed, and are confident it will, there is a strong belief that the city having its own tailor-made ground to match Hamilton's splendid Seddon Park, or Dunedin's picturesque University Oval - capacity up to 8000 with temporary seating - remains the best long-term option.

Eden Park will host a T20 and an ODI involving South Africa in February-March, and a T20 against Zimbabwe on February 11.

The four home tests in the New Year are at Napier (Zimbabwe) and Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington (South Africa).