Hobart glory reveals size of Test-match fan base
New Zealand's win in Hobart has shown that the country has a bigger fun base for Tests than the crowds suggest and it's important New Zealand pays more attention to that, such as keeping Boxing Day Tests at the Basin Reserve, writes Adam Parore in
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
New Zealand's win in Hobart has shown that the country has a bigger fun base for Tests than the crowds suggest and it's important New Zealand pays more attention to that, such as keeping Boxing Day Tests at the Basin Reserve, writes Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald.
I had mates of mine texting from all over the world Monday saying: "Are you watching this?". I went out for a drink with Dion Nash on Wednesday and all the guys we bumped into that night were just blown away by that last day and were telling the same stories we were.
Experts world over are slamming national boards for scheduling Twenty20 bashes before important Test series. If the scheduling of the Big Bash League in Australia ahead of the India Tests isn't questionable enough, the scene isn't very different down in New Zealand, writes Dylan Cleaver in the same paper.
The truncated format has always had its detractors, most things that are new and popular come with naysayers. The venom is more pointed this time, aimed at national boards who have succumbed to its commercial appeal at the cost of the more traditional forms of the sport.
In the same paper, David Leggat tries to place New Zealand's Hobart win amongst their other memorable Test victories.
Make no mistake, the New Zealand players at Hobart learned what it meant to win something meaningful. That memory will stay with them for the rest of their careers. A few hours after the win, what sounded like a haka emanated from the New Zealand dressing room at Bellerive Oval.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo