Good alround cricket really

I figure that while working for the Australians the chances of me getting to gloat over a series win in cricket will be few and far between - so its fair to say im making the most of it!

Friday night saw Australia lose by 10 wickets for the first time in a one dayer to NZ, and this was backed up yesterday with Aussie posting a ground record for Eden Park of 336, which NZ reached with 8 balls to spare! I watched the Friday game from the Air NZ corporate box at westpac stadium, was the first time I had been invited to a specific box, rather than just one of the bigger lounges - must say its nice to see how the proverbial other half live from time to time.

In other news - predictably im coming last in the Virtual Rugby, although I am only 6 points behind Nath (but well behind in the PMO challenge).

And lastly, while I was a big fan of the waterfront option, Eden Park has been confirmed as the venue for the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final with a new stand to be built. The Eden Park Trust Baord frankly caused all the trouble with this. When we got the cup - no one expected a $400-500 million upgrade of Eden Park, but realistically expected at least the Southern Stand being replaced - and this is what is now happening, with temporary seats to top up the remainder. Also before people start getting upset over scaffolding and planks of wood - 80 per cent of the seating at the new London stadium for the Olympics will be temporary, with the venue being reduced to hold 20 000 after the event, and also 30 per cent of the seats at Stadium Australia were temporary during those Olympics.

The Apocalypse will be catered

At the moment - Wellington is undergoing a major disaster practice. The situation is that Petone has been hit by a 7.8 scale earthquake. Operations are being run out of the Beehive bunker, known as the National Response Centre, and when I walked past the entrance I couldnt help but laugh that their catering trolley from Bellamys had been left outside. So dont worry when disaster strikes - Bellamys will be on hand with their concrete-muffins and disgraceful sandwiches!

In other news - Al Gore was in town yesterday, well Auckland at least and presented his slide show on global warming. Even though everyone present had seen it before it was still apparently very entertaining. The right wing are running the line that Gore is just a self-promoter who is deliberately misleading. (unlike the man they all voted for in the US?).

The stadium issue is still bubbling away. Former All Black Ian Jones summed it up well last night on Sky's Re:Union show. "This is a chance to completely re think the way Rugby is presented, we could have parades down Queen St, street theatre - have a real party atmosphere before the game begins and then carry on through the night at all the clubs and bars close by. Its a no-brainer."

Sir Ron Scott (the guy who organised the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games) has backed the new stadium also saying that this is a chance for Auckland to have an accessible venue, that not only hosts Rugby and Cricket, but like Wellington will host concerts, conferences and trade shows. Unfortunately Auckland seems divided on the issue and at this point seem to be against it - Talkback host Leighton Smith said it would encourage "lowlifes and unsophisticated types" to hang around the central city - eh?

Russell Brown has written a great piece on the Stadium issue here. Its worth a read.

Waterfront vs Eden Park

People are hilarious, NZ will be hosting the third biggest event in the world in 2011, and people dont want to spend any money on it.

Basically we are having to come up with a stadium that can hold 60 000 people for the major games.

The options are do up Eden Park or build something brand new and better on the waterfront. (Essentially what Wellinton did when Athletic Park was ditched).

Now normally the corporate sector would contribute to this - but not in NZ, basically they're too greedy. So when the organisers came to the government - the government asked, why on earth would you upgrade a venue in a residential area that has absolutely no parking, and is difficult to get to, when you could spend a bit more and have something world class, next to all the bars, clubs etc and Britomart (the suburban rail hub station) and has 30 000 car parks within a 15 minute walk.

This is why the government has come out in favour of the Waterfront "Stadium New Zealand" option over Eden Park.

As for people complaining that the govt should be spending more on health and education than this. The Rugby World Cup is going to be worth close to $3billion to NZ, the Cricket world Cup $1billion - think of how the Olympics put Sydney on the map - this is about national identity, and saying to the world we can hold world class events. I say have some pride in NZ, if the NZ economy is doing well, then government will be able to afford more joint operations, and money for schools etc.

This is about taking New Zealand to the next level. As Mike Moore once said - "Singapore is the size of Lake Taupo. Think about it."

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