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Recently, and without a lot of fanfare, New Zealand cricket announced that Eden Park was no longer suitable for test cricket. That is, it runs at a loss and no-one really goes there any more. In the first of a two part series we review the test matches we’ve ranked from 5 to 10 played at New Zealand’s most famous sporting ground. 10. NZ v England March 1978 New Zealand’s one and only 6-day test. And this is why; a totally negative draw between one side who had just recorded their first ever win over the Mother Country and not wanting to lose the series, and a pretty average English side captained by Geoff Boycott. 9 months previously, Geoff Squire was invalided out of the Lions tour when he twisted his ankle running through the cricket block at the same ground. And in those days before the advent of drop-in pitches such mud-heaps took a while to repair. New Zealand batted first and made 315 in just under 2 days. Then Clive Radley dropped anchor and scored 158 in 524 balls, ably assisted by such swashbuckling knocks as his captain (54 off 177) and Bob Taylor (16 off 111) as England’s knock spanned 4 days. New Zealand could only play for a draw, Burgess joining in the fun with 17 off 82, and Geoff Howarth, who was close to being dropped before the match began, scoring his second century of the match. 9. NZ v Pakistan February 1973 A match not memorable as a contest, but for 2 extraordinary feats by the home side. Pakistan arrived at the last test 1-up, and proceeded to grind out 402 well into the second day of this 4-day test. But things lit up after that with Rodney Redmond, playing in his only test taking on the Pakistani attack, taking a special liking to the tormentor of the home batsmen in previous tests Intikhab Alam. Not only did he hit him for 5 successive fours, but he did it moving anti-clockwise around the field. But Redmond went for 107 at 159, and early into the next day New Zealand had suffered the inevitable collapse and found themselves 251 / 9, still not past the follow-on mark for a 4-day test. But enter Number 11 R.O. Collinge, and along with Bryan Hastings on a good day, and records started tumbling; Hastings got a ton, Collinge got his highest first class score by a mile (68*), a 10th wicket partnership in tests that still stands, and at the end of it all the scores were tied. Pakistan played for the draw, but there was still the chance for Redmond to glide his way to 56 in the second innings to complete one of the most commanding solo test ever played.
England had just crossed the ditch having been bullied into submission by Lillee and Thomson for the previous 3 moths. And when Barry Wood, who had only been with the team was out 3rd ball, and Amiss followed soon after, it looked as if more was to follow. But 181 from Denness, and 216 from Fletcher, both clearly enjoying the gentler bowling were to follow and England racked up 593/6 before the end of the 2nd day. Despite a rare century from John Parker, New Zealand had to follow on, and only just made it into the 5th day at 161/9 in its second innings. But this match is famous for the 5th day. Ewen Chatfield, on debut, retired hurt at 184/9 when he received a fractured skull from a bouncer from Peter Lever which struck his left temple. His heart stopped beating and he swallowed his tongue, and Bernard Thomas, the English physiotherapist, saved his life with a heart-massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. All this took 15 minutes, although it seemed like an hour, in front of a handful of spectators who had showed up for the last rites. 7. NZ v West Indies February 1969 When people look back on West Indian cricket romantically, this is the kind of test they’re thinking of. New Zealand batted first; a debut for GM Turner amongst others, and were in trouble when Congdon (85) left at 152/6. Enter Bruce Taylor who for the next 2 hours smashed 124 with a then record 5 sixes, and New Zealand made 323. From 197/1 the Windies fell apart at the end of the 2nd day to give the home side a 47 run first innings lead. By the end of the 3rd day of this 4 day test, and just before the Sunday rest day(!), New Zealand had built up a lead of over 300. Soon on the final day they declared, leaving the West Indies 348 at faster than a run a minute. Step up Seymour Nurse who smashed New Zealand all round the park with 22 fours and 2 sixes to secure one of the highest 4th innings victories of all time. 6. NZ v India February 1990 On the face of it a high-scoring draw. But this match featured 2 of the greatest innings ever seen in a test match in New Zealand. You would not have picked what was in store halfway through the first day though; New Zealand had slumped to 85/6, then 131/7. Enter Ian Smith to play the innings of his life; 173 off 136 balls, pulling and cutting his way to rack up 23 fours and 3 sixes. As a batsman he had always flattered to deceive, but on this afternoon he was fearless. In reply, Azharuddin was comparatively more orthodox yet totally brutal over the next 2 days. It didn’t matter where New Zealand bowled to him, he was in full control, caressing the bowling to all corners of the park. Martin Crowe was later to comment that this was the best innings he had ever seen. For good measure, Crowe himself and Jones later added centuries of their own, but this is the match that will be remembered for the batting of Smith and Azharuddin. 5. NZ v England March-April 2002 A truly bizarre series came to a fittingly surreal end in this test. Despite Astle’s record breaking 222, New Zealand had lost the first test played at blistering pace. The second was totally overshadowed by the sudden death in Australia of Ben Hollioake. So it was off to Eden Park for the final test with the fact that it started on Easter Sunday adding to the strangeness. Because of rain and Easter-like darkness, by the time NZ had struggled to 202, there was only half an hour left in the 3rd day, and a draw looked inevitable. However, the ball does swing in such conditions, and with Tuffey taking 2 wickets in his opening over and Andre Adams (!!!) playing in his only test picking up another, there was some hope. New Zealand ended up with a lead of 42 by mid-afternoon on the following day, but with time running out and England slowing the over-rate down to a crawl (12 overs in 75 minutes imme
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