Eden Park Test.

It had been some seasons since a cricket test was played Eden Park, so I took the chance to see three days, Instead of listening to the radio or watching Sky. I wanted to see the drop-in pitch too-a compromise. I noticed many improvements in the long interim. The park now looked like an international stadium. The silver stands and grey seating sloped down To greet the grass, cut in a crisscross strip pattern. The corporate boxes, high on the covered stands' Who would want to be in those coveted places? I was happy in the partly-covered eastern stand, Able to move from the blazing sunshine to the shade. I glanced at the new big-screen-scoreboards often. Meanwhile, the Barmy Army sang William Blake's 'Jerusalem': 'Til we have built Jerusalem/In England's green and pleasant Land.' Mainly because the opener, Peter Fulton, making a comeback, Had scored two aggressive hundreds, a win for the Black Caps Looked very likely on the last day, but I thought that Blake's 'I will not cease from Mental Fight' must have inspired Matt Prior's lively match-saving century, down to the wire. -April,2013.