New Zealand test cricket does not get the same attention these days amid the instant gratification of twenty/20 but for a long time the accent was on test matches and many a fence was painted while listening to Iain Gallaway, Alan Richards and Bryan Waddle describing New Zealand's fortunes. Former Otago Daily Times sports editor Brent Edwards chooses the 10 favourite tests he covered.
It might seem strange but the two most dramatic tests of my time were both played in my own backyard, at the much-maligned and now demolished Carisbrook.
They were not only the two most dramatic tests I covered but the two greatest played in New Zealand and matches which would rate highly among the best played worldwide.
The 1980s was a golden era for New Zealand cricket and both matches, won with the last pair at the crease, stopped a nation on the respective last days.
The No 1 billing has to go to the one-wicket win over the West Indies, if only because they arrived in New Zealand as world champions after trouncing Australia in Australia.
It was the most controversial cricket tour made by any team to New Zealand and the ugliness began in Dunedin when they found themselves on the wrong end of some umpiring decisions.
The Windies batted first and were soon four runs for the loss of Gordon Greenidge, Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran. They never recovered. Desmond Haynes batted staunchly but the pace attack of Richard Hadlee, Gary Troup and Lance Cairns cut a swathe through the batting and they were dismissed for 140.
Bruce Edgar, John Wright and Geoff Howarth gave New Zealand a solid start but the middle-order fell away and it was only a swashbuckling 51 by Hadlee and 30 by Cairns - who hit spinner Derek Parry for three sixes - which produced a lead of 109.
The West Indies' second innings was marginally better than their first. Haynes dropped anchor for seven hours before he was last out for 105 and he had profitable partnerships with Collis King and Deryck Murray as Hadlee finished with match figures of 11 wickets for 102 off 56 overs.
New Zealand (the Black Caps were then a distant marketer's dream) were left the straightforward task of making 104 to win - but this time Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft bowled with an almost frightening fury.
New Zealand was soon 44 for six, despite a brief reprieve for John Parker who was given not out when he gloved a thunderbolt from Holding, who showed his displeasure by following through and kicking down the stumps. The photograph of Holding's rugby antics went worldwide and Glenn Turner wryly questioned Parker's sanity in not walking.
New Zealand at tea was nine runs short with two wickets left and it was the longest 20 minutes that cricket fans have ever endured.
''Who needs tea?'' veteran Christchurch writer Dick Brittenden asked.
''I need a brandy.''
Cairns was out soon after after top-scoring with 19 and this left Troup and No 11 Stephen Boock to make four more runs.
They ran a bye (which almost caused a run out), Boock squeezed a ball through gully for two and, with nerves stretched on and off the field, a ball struck Boock on the pad and, in scenes of utter confusion, they ran a leg bye to complete the victory.
There was no mixing between the teams after the match. The Windies manager, Willie Rodriguez, launched a tirade about the umpiring and his players refused to attend the presentation ceremony. The battle lines had been drawn in a bitter series.
The Coney, Chatfield show
There was another nailbiter at Carisbrook five years later as Jeremy Coney and No 11 Ewen Chatfield added 50 for the last wicket with Cairns lying in the dressing room with a hairline fracture of the skull. It seemed straightforward for most of the first day as Pakistan cruised to 241 for two before Hadlee struck with the second new ball and the last eight wickets fell for 33 runs.
But New Zealand could not capitalise. The top-order all made starts but only Martin Crowe passed 50.
The destroyer was the teenage left-arm speedster Wasim Akram. I had sat next to him at the pre-test dinner and he seemed a mild-mannered, almost shy, youngster but he was a different proposition with a ball in his hand.
Qasim Omar (96 and 89) completed a fine double in Pakistan's second innings but wickets fell regularly to the four-pronged seam attack and New Zealand was left to make 278 to win.
It began badly and, at 24 for four, it seemed all over. Martin Crowe and Coney renewed hope with a partnership of 157, but the game changed after Crowe's dismissal.
New Zealand lost four quick wickets and Cairns spent the next two nights in hospital after he was hit on the head by Akram, who was warned for intimidatory bowling.
No one gave New Zealand a chance as Chatfield joined Coney. A few years earlier Chatfield had almost died after he was struck by a short ball by English paceman Peter Lever.
He was peppered with short balls by the Pakistanis but showed immense courage and the runs ticked over as captain Javed Miandad became increasingly irritated.
Eventually, after almost two hours of unbearable tension, Coney tucked a ball backward of square for the winning runs. It was the ultimate great escape. Coney made an unbeaten century but Chatfield, too, was the toast of New Zealand.
Windies petulance
We go to Lancaster Park, Christchurch, for the third test on my list. It is not there because of its quality but because of the petulant attitude of the West Indies which revived memories of the worst moments of the Bodyline series of 1932-33.
The Windies made 228, mainly through the batting of Gordon Greenidge and Kallicharran who added 152 for the fourth wicket. The last seven wickets fell for 38 runs as Cairns finished with six wickets.
New Zealand was soon in strife against the ferocious bowling of Holding, Garner, Croft and Andy Roberts but Howarth and Coney added 122 for the fourth wicket.
Howarth was unbeaten on 99 at tea but, when he emerged to resume his innings, the Windies refused to take the field. They wanted Fred Goodall replaced as umpire and it was almost a quarter of an hour before officials persuaded captain Clive Lloyd to take his players back out.
The next day, the rest day, the West Indies removed their gear from the dressing room and prepared to quit the tour. There were frenzied negotiations and it was only after a series of phone calls to the West Indies that the players were persuaded to continue.
The drama did not end there. The next morning Croft deliberately barged into umpire Goodall, who walked the length of the pitch to speak to Lloyd, who showed no inclination to discipline his out-of-control fast bowler.
New Zealand achieved a first innings lead of 222, Howarth and Hadlee both made centuries and the West Indies piled on the runs in their second innings as the match drifted to a draw.
But the sullen attitude of the West Indies, who were jeered by the crowd, made this the most unpleasant atmosphere for any test in New Zealand.
England collapses
It was unpleasant again at Lancaster Park in 1984, but this time for England only, as it capitulated to one of the worst losses in its history. The test was over in less than two full playing days and pace bowler Tony Piggott, who had postponed his wedding - scheduled for Waitangi Day, day four - could have made it to the altar after all.
There were doubts about the quality of the pitch but New Zealand batted boldly, England bowled badly and a total of 307 was always going to be formidable.
Jeff Crowe and Coney gave New Zealand momentum and Hadlee simply flayed some short, wide bowling as he raced to 99 off 81 balls before he was caught behind.
New Zealand bowled tightly, fielded and caught expertly and there were no free runs as Hadlee, Cairns, Chatfield and Boock shared the wickets in the meagre total of 82.
The second innings was a repeat, the English batsmen seemingly psyched out by the conditions. Derek Randall top-scored for the match as England was dismissed for fewer than 100 in each innings for the first time. It was also New Zealand's quickest test victory.
England captain Bob Willis complained bitterly about the pitch but he received no sympathy from the Fleet St press on tour who used their most colourful adjectives in condemning the surrender.
Victory amid jitters
Two years later, the West Indies, fresh from a 10-wicket win the second test, arrived in Christchurch full of confidence to clinch the series.
But they were dismissed in only 36.3 overs for 100, Richie Richardson top-scoring with 37. Hadlee and Chatfield took the 10 wickets between them, Hadlee getting six. What made his performance more extraordinary was that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and had to be persuaded to play.
New Zealand took a first innings lead of 222, the Crowe brothers and John Bracewell all making fine half-centuries.
The West Indies made a more respectable 264 in its second innings, nine batsmen making double figures, while Martin Snedden enjoyed a day in the sun with a five-wicket bag.
New Zealand needed only 33 to win but got the jitters against the hostile bowling of Garner, Courtney Walsh and Tony Gray. It succumbed to 30 for five before Martin Crowe and Bracewell scored the winning runs amid sighs of relief.
Euphoria and dodgy tactics
New Zealand achieved its highest fourth innings total to beat Pakistan by five wickets in Christchurch in 1994. There was euphoria at the time but it was only some years later, amid allegations of match-fixing, that questions were asked about the commitment of the Pakistanis.
New Zealand trailed by 144 runs on the first innings and, when it was set 324 to win, the match seemed as good as over - and even more so when it was 133 for four.
But Bryan Young and Shane Thomson added 154 for the fifth wicket and scored their maiden test centuries against bowling which lacked the venom of the first innings and fielding which, even by Pakistani standards, was lackadaisical.
It was a fine achievement but there will always remain an asterisk about the Pakistanis' attitude. The captain, Salim Malik, was later banned while Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram were fined for underperforming in some matches on the tour.
Botham's test
Ian Botham showed his quality and audacity on his first overseas tour when England beat New Zealand in Christchurch in 1978. He made his maiden test century (103) in the first innings, 30 not out in the second and had match bowling figures of eight wickets for 111.
But he will be remembered just as match for deliberately running out his captain, Geoff Boycott, as the other England batsmen chased quick runs in the second innings. Boycott had taken an interminable time to make 26 before Botham, in a unilateral action, ran out his skipper.
New Zealand crumbled in its second innings, anyway, and Boycott was left to lament the runs he could and should have scored.
Congdon defiant
The test between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch a year earlier will be remembered for Doug Walters' magnificent 250 and Bevan Congdon's heroic rearguard action which denied Australia victory.
Walters preferred to warm up with a cigarette and a sitdown rather than vigorous physical activity but he was irresistible with the bat as he put all the bowlers to the sword and added 217 with Gary Gilmour for the seventh wicket.
Wickets fell regularly when New Zealand began its quest for the 350 to win but Congdon was immovable and he battled to his seventh test century. New Zealand seemed gone at 245 for seven and 260 for eight but Dayle Hadlee dug in with Congdon and earned the Kiwis an honourable draw.
Majestic Chappell
Greg Chappell played one of the finest test innings in New Zealand when Australia won by eight wickets at Lancaster Park in 1982.
His innings dwarfed everything else and he scored exactly 100 runs in one session, one of the few times that has been achieved. Hadlee took six wickets but even he was punished by the elegant right-hander.
New Zealand collapsed for 149 against the pace of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Terry Alderman. It did much better in its second dig, John Wright scoring 141 - by far his most assertive century - but the Aussies cruised to victory on the back of Chappell's magic.
First test blues
It was not often New Zealand lost after scoring 350, especially in the late 1960s, but it happened against India at Carisbrook in 1968.
It was my first test (I covered it for the Press Association while my boss Dudley Manning wrote about it for the Otago Daily Times) and Graham Dowling batted almost throughout the first day for 143 and the Kiwis reached what most thought was safety. India achieved a first innings lead of nine runs but scored at a much quicker rate.
New Zealand did not exactly collapse in its second innings but lost wickets regularly to the spin trio of Erapalli Prasanna, Bishen Bedi and Bapu Nadkarni, and only Bruce Murray passed 50.
India needed 200 to win and it was seldom in doubt after Ajit Wadekar completed a fine double and he and Rusi Surti added 103 for the third wicket. Leg-spinner Jack Alabaster took six wickets for the match for New Zealand but it was all over soon after lunch on the fifth day.
