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

As Sideline Sid counts the hours down to the historic first cricket test at the Bay Oval on Thursday, he remembers back to going to his first test match nearly a half century ago.

March 1971 saw the MCC conclude a four month tour of Australia and New Zealand, when England battled to a draw with New Zealand in the Eden Park second test.

New Zealand was pretty much an afterthought, with two tests and limited over games against Wellington, Otago and Central Districts added to the big dance in Australia.

The youngsters of today would have difficulty in recognising the New Zealand of 1971.

The last steam locomotive passenger service that ran between Christchurch and Dunedin, became just an entry in the history of rail in the country.

KFC arrived with a solitary shop opening in Auckland, leading the explosion of fast foods chains that we have today.

Sid can remember going to purchase KFC in Auckland in the early days, to be greeted by a queue stretching several hundred yards.

Tauranga was just beginning to rise from its slumber as a sleepy fishing village and Papamoa was no more than a long road dotted with cottages.

To a cricket tragic like this writer, the 1970's were the start of the golden age of cricket in this country.

There was little one-day cricket played and Twenty 20 was just an idea some decades in the future.

Test cricket was the Holy Grail, with international tours of the country something to be looked forward to every couple of years.

England in 1971 was followed by Pakistan two years later and today's enemy of Australia making a short tour in 1974.

Home tours were interspersed with New Zealand making overseas tours. However, there was no live ball by ball television coverage four decades ago, with Kiwi cricket fans listening on radio sets.

The big guns of the test cricket world were England (MCC) South Africa and Australia. The first test between the MCC and Australia took place in 1877, with the Poms playing South Africa for the first time two years later.

An example of where New Zealand ranked in test cricket in 1971 was provided by the MCC tour down under.

The 1970/71 Ashes series consisted of seven tests while New Zealand was tacked on with two four-day tests.

For this grey haired cricket fan, the 1971 Eden Park test was the start of a lifetime love of test cricket.

The MCC team was filled with giants of the game, with John Edrich opening the innings and Colin Cowdrey coming in at first drop, Alan Knott behind the stumps, and Bob Willis and Derek Underwood terrorizing the New Zealand batting attack.

New Zealand was coming of age as a cricket playing nation, with a number of our promising stars playing County and League cricket in England during the New Zealand off-season.

Glen Turner opened for New Zealand and was on the ascendancy to becoming a Kiwi cricket legend.

Graham Dowling and Bevan Congdon would anchor the New Zealand rise in the international game for many years, with the late, great, Ken Wadsworth wearing the keepers gloves.

Two of the bowlers had later links to the Bay of Plenty. Bob Cunis played 14 games for the Bay of Plenty in the mid 1970's, with Richard Collinge later coming to live in the Western Bay of Plenty and play club cricket for Greerton.

No one could have dreamed some 48 years ago, that that we could see some of the best cricket players in the world showcase their talents in the Western Bay of Plenty later this week.

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