Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Cricket heaven for Western Bay Cricket fans, doesn't get any better than the upcoming Bay Oval Test match between the Black Caps and England, which kicks off on Thursday 16th February 2023.

You have to go way back, to the English tour of Australia in 1861-62, to find that test cricket, derived from the English team testing itself against each of the Australian colonies.

Today, Test matches are the highest level of cricket played between national representative teams, with just twelve teams being accorded Test match status.

England and Australia contested the first cricket test, followed by South Africa and the West Indies introduced to test cricket, with New Zealand receiving test status in 1930. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were next in line, with Afghanistan and Ireland receiving the coveted cricket status as recently as 2018.

The Bay Oval, where the first sod was turned as recently as 2005, earned its stripes in being awarded their first Test match in November 2019.

It was appropriate, in that New Zealand met the originators of the game, in England, in the historic first test at the world's newest international cricket ground.

The inaugural Bay Oval Test will be long remembered for the grounds first double century from Black Caps keeper BJ Watling - and the dramatic demolition of England on day five that gave New Zealand the spoils of victory.

Two seasons ago Pakistan stopped off at Blake Park to fight out a genuine five-day thriller.

Boxing Day 2022, saw Bangladesh start a five-day contest that resulted in the Asian visitors recording a Test victory for the first time against New Zealand.

Bangladesh quick bowler Ebadot Hossain, wrote his name into Bay Oval folklore with the first international six wicket bag, taking six wickets for 46 runs.

When England walks out onto the Bay Oval in four weeks time, another historic milestone will be written into the Western Bay of Plenty ground history, with a day/night Test match.

Day/Night Tests are still a rarity, with the 2023 New Zealand v England game, just the twenty-first since Australia played the Black Caps in Adelaide in 2015.

Finishing each days play under floodlights brings the oddity of pink ball cricket. Cricket ball makers, tried different colours including optic yellow and bright orange, before settling on pink for heightened visibility under lights.

Early indications are that local and visiting cricket fans, including some of the barmy army membership, will come in their thousands to line the grassy banks to watch the inaugural day/nighter at the Bay Oval.

The Bay Oval wicket provides an arena where batsmen can show their class with arsenal of shot-making to all corners of the ground, while also providing assistance to the bowlers.

This hardened cricket fan is awaiting a scintillating batting display from local hero Kane Williamson, who has been relieved of the shackles of Test captaincy. A Black Cap win, accompanied by a Williamson century, would provide icing on the cake for the thousands of New Zealand fans on hand to catch the unique Bay Oval day/nighter.