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

Sideline Sid sat on the edge of his seat yesterday with work put on the back burner as the Black Caps grabbed a rare test victory over Australia.

For mine, test cricket is what the game is all about with all the twists and turns that only take place in a genuine four or five day contest.

The catalyst to the thrilling drama at the Bellerive in Hobart, Tasmania, was that the Bellerive curator prepared a wicket that was always going to produce a result.

Today's game heavily favours the batsmen with ground superintendents worldwide producing low and flat tracks that produce a myriad of runs.

While flat tracks see the batsmen prosper, too many tests worldwide peter out to a draw.

Watching a mid match interview with the Bellerive curator was enlightening.

He said that he set out to produce a wicket that gave early assistance to the bowlers, with the batsmen having to play correct shots with the bat to avoid being dismissed. The wicket, which actually had some green grass on it, saw ball dominate bat for the three and a half days of the ‘edge of the seat' action.

In recent years, the Bay of Plenty has become the real nursery of the game in New Zealand.

Testament to the Bay pathway is that a quarter of the test team played junior cricket in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Kane Williamson, Trent Boult and Bellerive hero Doug Bracewell all first picked up bat and ball in junior cricket administered by the Tauranga Cricket Association. Flicking through a BOP Cricket annual report of the 2003/04 season – Kane, and Doug, who now live outside the region, played together in the BOP Coastland (Western BOP) under-14 team, with Trent a member of the BOP Coastland under-15 side.

Add in Graeme Aldridge and Daniel Flynn, who has both worn the Black Cap of New Zealand Cricket in the last 12 months and you have (almost) Western Bay domination of the Black Caps.

While Kane Williamson's rise through the Western Bay junior cricket and Tauranga Boys' College has been well documented – not so much has been written about Trent Boult, who only received his Bellerive call-up minutes before the start of the test, when Daniel Vettori was forced out by injury.

Trent, like Graeme Aldridge, was a product of Otumoetai College and played cricket for the school.

The express bowler first rose to national prominence some five years ago when he won a New Zealand Cricket schools fast bowling competition.

He really made cricket followers sit up and take notice in a Bay of Plenty inter-association Attrill Cup game a couple of years later.

Playing for the Tauranga rep side against Eastern Bay of Plenty, he ripped through the opposition top order grabbing an elusive hat trick.

Later in the match he grabbed a remarkable second hat trick removing the Eastern Bay side's tail with three successive balls.

From there he has gone on to become a regular in the Northern Knights, where his feats with the ball have propelled him on to the current Black Cap tour of Australia.

While test cricket will be on the back burner for the next few weeks, we will get the chance to see all our local stars on hand at BOP Cricket Oval in the smash and bash of the HRV Cup Twenty20 competition over the holiday season.

Seeya at a HRV Cup Game