Boxing Day Test back at last

YESTERDAY marked the return of a piece of the New Zealand cricketing landscape which has been missing for the past decade. After an 11-year absence, the Boxing Day test is back.

And what a return it was; the christening of a brand new test venue and a sell-out crowd.

Since Shoaib Akhtar tore the Black Caps apart at the Basin Reserve in 2003, New Zealanders have had to turn their eye into Melbourne (where it truly is a tradition) for their Boxing Day cricket fix. It's brilliantly produced TV and the cricket is at the highest level but it always felt like we were missing out.

The Boxing Day test was never a long-standing regular fixture, but for five seasons around the turn of the century, the Basin Reserve on Boxing Day had its place on this country's holiday calendar. New Zealand has usually had success in the post-Christmas match.

In 1998 India won the toss and put themselves in, hoping to negotiate the usually difficult first session on the Basin. Doull delivered one of the spells of his career, snaring four of the Indian top order by lunch. Just after tea he led the team off the field having claimed seven of the 10 wickets to fall in just over 60 overs.

The following year West Indies toured and they too left the Basin defeated. The bat of debutant Matthew Sinclair compiled 214 in his first test cricket outing.

The 2000 edition was an uneventful draw with Zimbabwe before Bangladesh were hammered in four days by an innings and 74 runs in 2001, the new-to-test-cricket tourist unable to score more than 140 in either innings.

In 2002, the test was replaced with a one-day match. The "Boxing Day one-dayer" never had the same ring to it but the Black Caps continued their festive form rolling India for 108 in 32 overs, Jacob Oram claiming a five-wicket bag. The hosts made hard work of the chase finally overhauling the total seven down. New Zealand went on to win that first-ever seven-match series to be played on home soil 5-2.

The test format made one last return in 2003 with New Zealand losing for the first time, unable to contain Akhtar's pace as he took 11 for the match.

Eleven years later, the fixture returns with the Sri Lankans here for a two-test series. This occasion has significance for them, too. It's 10 years since the Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The Sri Lankans were here on that day, playing a one-day match in Auckland while their home country was destroyed in the disaster. No doubt this day is just as much about remembering that.

This test is the first chance to see the Black Caps at home after a hugely successful winter away. And while the Boxing Day test has ventured south from the spiritual home of New Zealand cricket, no one can begrudge Christchurch its day.

The debut of our eighth test venue and the return of international cricket to Christchurch is another milestone in the rebuild of our third-biggest city.

Who knows if the Boxing Day test will become a regular event again? Let's just enjoy it while it's back.