Basin Reserve

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The Basin Reserve, (commonly known as the "Basin" by locals), is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand used for staging test, first-class and one-day cricket. Some argue that due to its proximity to the city, its National Heritage Place title and its age make it the most famous cricket ground in New Zealand.^[1] In fact, the Basin Reserve is the only cricket ground in New Zealand to have National Heritage Place status. On occasions, the ground has been used as a venue for other events other than cricket, such as concerts, sports events and other social gatherings, although it is now almost solely used for the sport of cricket, particularly tests.

1 Location
2 Construction History
3 Event History
4 Footnotes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Location

A view of Basin Reserve with the stands and carillon in the background.

The Basin Reserve is located 2km south of the Wellington CBD, at the foot of Mount Victoria. Government House is to the south of the Basin, across the street, as well as the boy's school Wellington College. Also on the southern end of the basin is the Mount Victoria Tunnel, which increased the traffic flow around the Basin Reserve. One of the incidental quirks of the Basin is that it acts as reputedly the largest traffic island in the southern hemisphere. Indeed, the Basin Reserve is situated in the middle of the joining of many streets and acts as a round-about for traffic in the city. After the Mount Victoria Tunnel was opened next to St. Patrick's College in 1931, traffic levels increased further around the Basin Reserve, forcing traffic lights to eventually be placed around the Basin Reserve to ensure safety.

The Basin reserve is also surrounded by numerous other Wellington landmarks, including the Mount Cook Barracks, the Wellington National War Memorial Carillon, numerous colleges and highschools, the Caledonian Hotel and the Dominion Museum. The suburb of Newtown is adjacant to the Basin Reserve too.

[edit] Construction History

The area that is now Basin Reserve was originally a lake (known as the Basin Lake), and there were plans to connect it to the sea by a canal to make it an alternative inner city harbour with major warehouses and factories alongside it. However, an earthquake in 1855 uplifted the area nearly 1.8 m and turned the lake into a swamp. Due to the colonist's English roots, sport, particularly cricket, was a vital part of the community's way to relax. However, no land had been allocated by the city planners for recreational reserves for the city. Although natural grounds, such as the Te Aro flat, provided a small area for matches, the colonists wanted more recreational land than what they had. The matter became more dire as buildings began to be erected on these flat plains, as flat land was hard to find in the mountainous Wellington. So after the 1855 earthquake, which historians guess would have measured 8 on the Richter scale,^[1] influential citizens siezed the chance in 1857 to suggest that the new land be drained and made into a recreational reserve. The Wellington council accepted the proposal and beginning on February 3, 1863, prisoners from the Mount Cook Barracks began to level and drain the new land. The swamp was drained by September and a fence was placed around the entire area along with hedges. However, massive population influxes from 1863 until 1866 (caused mostly by the Parliament being situated in Wellington), hampered construction on the Basin Reserve as workers were pulled to other areas.

However, after a council meeting, on 11 December 1866, the Basin Reserve became Wellington's official cricket ground. No cattle or horses were allowed in the ground and only small hedges and shrubs were allowed to be planted so as not to hamper cricket games. Soon after, on 11 January, 1868, the first game of cricket was played on the new Basin Reserve, although the ground had numerous stones and thisles on it, which the umpire later apologised for as some players got injured from them. Although it was the opening day, no ceremony or music was played, nor was the opening advertised with banners.

Soon after that first event, the Highland Games began being held at the Basin Reserve. The games were organised by the Wellingtonian Caledonian Society, of which their headquarters, The Caledonian Hotel, still stands towards the south of the Basin Reserve. The society offered up prize money which brought many competitors to the region. Due to their success, the society petitioned to have new grandstands builts at the western end of the Basin Reserve. They would measure 44ft by 20ft and would cost approximately £250–£300. The stands would also hold food stalls and ground keepers. However for the following years, even up until reportedly 1872, the Basin Reserve grounds were still extremely swampish, with small pools of swamp water and various weeds and shrubs sprouting over the fields. in late 1872, horses were used to level the playing field and this greatly improved the conditions.

[edit] Event History

The first ever event played on the Basin Reserve was a game of one-day cricket on 11 January, 1868 between the Mount Cook Barracks prisoners and their officers and the crew of the HMS Falcon which was docked in the Wellington harbour at the time. However the game was hampered with injuries from numerous stones and thistles in the grass, which led to the injury of some players. The umpire apologised after the game to the players for the poor conditions of play.

After that first event, local societies began organising athletic and sport meetings at the Basin Reserve. These meetings were eventually called the Highland Games and it was their success which led to the construction of the ground's grand stand. The events included athletics, racing, dancing and later wood-chopping and cycling. However the ground was still swampish in some areas, but was remedied in late 1872. This allowed the first Wellington representative game to be played on 30 november, 1873 against Auckland. Wellington easily won, and the moment was historic for the ground as the first first-class game to ever be played at the Basin Reserve. Another first at the Basin Reserve is reputedly what was the first game of rugby in the North Island.^[1] The first rugby game held at the Basin Reserve was between the Wellington football team and the crew of HMS Rosario, although the sailors won by a single goal.

The first Test match played at the ground was between New Zealand and England, beginning 24 January, 1930. One-day international cricket has also been played at the Basin Reserve: regularly until 1999, after which it moved to the larger crowd capacity Westpac Stadium on the other side of Wellington. In what may be a one-off occasion, it returned during the Australian Tour in 2005 following a decision that the pitch at Hamilton's Westpac Park was unfit for cricket.

In addition to cricket, other sports have also used the Basin Reserve, including rugby, a rugby league test match and exhibition Australian rules football matches.