New Zealand trip 2008
We left Singapore at around 8pm on Tuesday 11th March, changing planes in Sydney, and landed in Wellington at around 2pm on Wednesday 12th. We were staying at Aitken on Mulgrave, a collection of serviced apartments. According to the website, it is ideally located and furnished for both business and leisure travellers. We were perhaps a little out of the way for the social aspects of Wellington, and certainly the wrong side of Wellington for the Basin Reserve, but that was probably for the best since we got to see more of Wellington itself.
The central reason for this holiday was to see England play Test cricket - we knew they were touring here and we thought it was the perfect excuse to come to a country that we wanted to see. That includes Lynne - she is a cricket (and more generally sports) fan. We got tickets to see England play New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in the second Test match. As a result, a lot of the photos taken in Wellington are from the cricket match.
England had started the Test series badly, losing in Hamilton by 189 runs, having been skittled in the second innings for 110. As a result, Matthew Hoggard (never to play for England again) and Steve Harmison were dropped, with James Anderson and Stuart Broad brought in (and, as we know now, being the spearhead of England's attack right up to the current 2010/11 Ashes series, injuries allowing).
Meanwhile, I think this is a shot from the drive from the airport. It gave a decent enough panoramic view of Wellington city centre.
We soon learnt that the Barmy Army, England's relentlessly faithful cricket supporters club, had set up camp in the Feathers.
Having arrived on the Wednesday, there wasn't much of a break before the Test match started on Thursday 13th. As we headed over there, we spotted this delightful advert for the Summer Set. There was too much to take in. Not only did it feature Dave Seaman, former England goalkeeper, and the intriguingly titled Crazy Penis; it also included Tom Middleton, a work colleague of ours. He'd not said he was coming out here...
Given that we had to pick our tickets up at the ground, there was a mild (but unnecessary) air of apprehension as to whether we would be able to get in. But we were soon skirting round the ground, taking photos of England practising. I think this is probably Phil Mustard practising his wicketkeeping skills, since Tim Ambrose does not possess that level of hair. Peter Moores is the England coach providing Mustard with the warm-up. Not sure who the fielder in the background is - possibly Ian Bell.
Just before the day's play got underway, there was the usual scrum of media, players, officials et al out on the square. This shot also shows the grass bank on the far side, as well as the relatively luscious vegetation in the background. In the foreground, England's fast bowling coach, West Indian Ottis Gibson.
Ian Botham looked very fetching in his Peter-Davidson-era-Doctor-Who-style hat and full suit.
And finally play was underway. New Zealand won the toss and opted to field, no doubt intending to exploit any early morning moisture there may have been, as well as testing whether England's batsmen had managed to get the second innings collapse at Hamilton out of their minds.
However, England's openers, Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook, made it to lunch unscathed, with the scoreboard on 79-0. And, at lunchtime, they let the crowd onto the pitch! They don't let you do that any more at Old Trafford (cricket ground - that is, the proper Old Trafford). I seem particularly pleased at that development.
It enabled us to check out the bowlers' run-ups, marked up as if by a geometry teacher. MG represented Mark Gillespie's mark and JO Jacob Oram's.
We were also afforded a close-up look at the pitch. Looks a belter. Generally speaking, middle-aged blokes stood around at the ends of the cut strip and commented on the state of the pitch.
Not a good sign when the keeper (Brendon McCullum) drops one of his gloves.
I managed to get a close-up of Kiwi legend Richard Hadlee, whilst the New Zealand team had a pre-session huddle. Richard shops at Dilmah.
Michael Vaughan was finally ready.
Unfortunately, he was soon on his way back as, facing his second delivery of the afternoon session, he was bowled by Oram for 32. There followed a particularly bad session, for England anyway, as they stumbled from 79-0 to 156-5 at tea. The morning optimism had swiftly dissipated. We had to cheer ourselves up by spotting England fans in fancy dress. In the distance, you can see the grass hill where the Barmy Army congregated. We sat in the Museum stand on the other side of the ground. As the sun went over behind us, it didn't get much sun in the afternoon and was actually a little bit chilly, the biting Wellington wind doing its work.
In order to get a bit of the sunshine, we went for a wander round the ground. One of the great features of this ground is that you can walk all the way round it and always be quite close to the action. We managed to spot the ape-headed guy in with the Barmy Army. England fans seemed to make up around 80% of the attendance in the ground, no doubt influenced by the fact that it was a working day here.
As the final session of the day wore on, slowly but surely Paul Collingwood and Tim Ambrose built up England's score. Over to the right, the miniature scoreboard shows that England were on 288-5, almost doubling their score for no further wickets lost.
And, in fact, five down was how it stayed as Collingwood (48 not out) and Ambrose (97 not out) walked off at the end of the day's play with the score at 291-5, with respectability achieved, to a standing ovation from the England fans. As the relative scores suggest, Ambrose was by far the more fluent player, with Collingwood doing what he does best and digging in for the duration.
I don't think that I am understating things when I say that this is the best street in the world.
After having a Mexican at Coyote the previous evening...
...we were fresh and ready for a second day's cricket. It wasn't long before Collingwood passed the 50 mark. He raised his bat towards the Barmy Army (we were sat on the grassy mound this time, reasonably close but not too close to the Barmy Army).
And then, shortly afterwards, Ambrose got his maiden Test century, in only 22 more deliveries than Collingwood got to 50. Due to his prolonged presence at the crease, we got to hear his Barmy Army song plenty of times. To the tune of You Are My Sunshine: "We've got Tim Ambrose; sounds like Ambrosia; they make good custard; comes in a tin; they make creamed rice too; that's not important; just as long as England win."
It didn't last much longer, as Ambrose was out for 102, but it was a fine, potentially match-winning innings. We had finally managed to meet up with a (then) work colleague of ours, Ste Dillea, sat on the hill and with pint obviously.
England were eventually all out for 342, with the last two wickets falling in two balls, having lost Collingwood for the 8th wicket the ball after the drinks break. It was a strong total given the position England had reached at lunch on the first day. Here is Sidebottom bowling in the first over.
Meanwhile, Anderson, bowling at the other end, revelled in the English-style conditions, bowling Matthew Bell with his fifth delivery. Here is the resultant celebration.
Jamie How soon followed, caught by Strauss at first slip (I presume that was his position), giving Anderson his second wicket, and leaving New Zealand less than ideally placed at 11-2 at lunch. Here's the proof.
Encouraged by England's performance, the spiritual leader of the Barmy Army, Jimmy, started to get the crowd going, with the help of a bearded guy with a drum. His call-and-response ditty goes like this: "Everywhere we go; the people want to know; who we are; where we come from. Shall we tell them; who we are; where we come from. We are the England; the Mighty Mighty England. We are the Army; the Barmy Barmy Army." There follows "Andrew Strauss's" shouted by Jimmy, then "Barmy Army!" shouted by the Barmy Army, repeated for as long as you care to imagine. We heard them sing this last part of the song for at least ten minutes.
New Zealand fought back a little in the afternoon, reaching 100-3. However, after the tea break, New Zealand suffered a mini-collapse to 113-6, Anderson picking up his five-for in the process. A 52-run partnership between Daniel Vettori ("Dan Vettori, Dan Vettori, Harry Potter in disguise; we are going to, steal your glasses, and poke you in the eyes" to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine) and McCullum held things up for a short while, but then Collingwood cleaned up the tail and New Zealand were all out for 198. England survived five hairy overs to get to four without loss by the close of play. We had moved round to the other side of the ground as the direct sunlight was particularly strong and we had been sitting in it all day. It did provide us with a close-up view of Osama Bin Laden, not a renowned cricket fan, and his twin.
After the game, Michael "Athers" Atherton interviewed England's heroes of the first two days, Ambrose and Anderson (the latter in particular rewarding the selectors' decision to change the bowling attack around, despite it seeming to be the batsmen who underperformed in the first Test). That evening, we went to Maria Pia's Trattoria, a very pleasant Italian located not too far from where we were staying.
And that's quite enough for one page. If you are so inclined, please proceed to the next page.