The Basin Reserve & The Cake Tin

[IanRitchie]

Ahh, paradise.

Vance Stand and the old Grandstand.

Looking towards the scoreboard during a Wellington v Otago State Shield match.

Looking across to Mount Victoria.

[IanRitchie]

New Zealand vs World XI




The entrance a few days after the match.

[Timbo]

Wow great pics!

This will be the first ODI at Basin since we last toured wont it?

[Jeffles]

Top photos!

The outside of WTS really eanrs the place its nickname.

Basin Reserve's photos are great too. Good to see the ground up close. I think it was here that some dude caught a 6 in the crowd with one hand and balanced his beers in the other. It won Sports Tonight's Play of the Day.

These should be added to the site.

[Egan]

Great Photos!

Westpac Trust does not look as imposing a stadium from the outside...not as high as I was thinking it would have been.

Basin Reserve - What a ground...has so much charm with the picket fence without sponsorship signs...this ground mustn't have changed for decades.

Seems they got a fairly good crowd for the cricket?

[hot_dogma]

Excellent pics IanRitchie.

I always had the impression the Basin Reserve was a toy ground in terms of playing field size but the outfield looks quite big in the images. WTS on the other hand does look very compact. Is it the elevation of the shots that make it look deceptively small or is it really a midget ground?

[Jeffles]

Basin looks big because the pitch is to one side in that photo.

Speaking of Wellington stadia, I will resurrect a photo of my favourite (one that has appeared on this site before), Athletic Park.

http://blufforn0.tripod.com/wellington/id1.html

[IanRitchie]

This will be the first ODI at Basin since we last toured wont it?

I'm almost certain. There won't be any day-nighters there anytime soon though. The light towers are pretty dodgy at the best of times, and one is totally lacking any lights, or any sign of anything up there. Quite an issue with only two towers, as well.

Westpac Trust does not look as imposing a stadium from the outside...not as high as I was thinking it would have been.

I took that photo from the entry concourse, it is about 15+ metres above the railway tracks and the road. The height of the entrances in betweem the bays, about halfway up is about the height of the concourse.

They could have easily built another level on the stadium - the residents who complained must really like their view...of the CONITAINER TERMINAL. Whoop de.

The World XI match got a crowd of about 21,200. Not much higher, i might add, than the crowd at Eden Park for the NZ/SL game on Boxing Day.

I always had the impression the Basin Reserve was a toy ground in terms of playing field size but the outfield looks quite big in the images. WTS on the other hand does look very compact. Is it the elevation of the shots that make it look deceptively small or is it really a midget ground?

I understand the Basin is one of the biggest grounds in New Zealand, in field size. As Jeffles said, the pitch was right on the side of the wicket block (and yet the ropes were really far in on the short side, and really far out on the long side - haha, genius!).

WTS is a rugby ground that just happens to be a circle.

Jeffles - Athletic Park was a sad sight, or lack thereof. I'm sure everyone knows that it's now a retirement village, and i saw it listed on a map still. When we drove past the area there was no sign of it. Such a big part of NZ history, totally goneburgers.

[Jeffles]

Jeffles - Athletic Park was a sad sight, or lack thereof. I'm sure everyone knows that it's now a retirement village, and i saw it listed on a map still. When we drove past the area there was no sign of it. Such a big part of NZ history, totally goneburgers.

heard about the retirement village. That far grandtsand was so bloody odd.

[Egan]

So what would this capacity have been with this extra level?

The residents around Westpac Trust must be the same as those here in Subiaco

Wellington People sure do love their sports...they do support it in great numbers whatever is held their.

Would many people travel to Wellington for major sports events if a second tier was added and it was a 60,000 capacity stadium...the government/council have rocks in their head for not increasing the size.

[Jeffles]

Would many people travel to Wellington for major sports events if a second tier was added and it was a 60,000 capacity stadium...the government/council have rocks in their head for not increasing the size.

Aren't you the one that argued for that big NZ national stadium in "centralised" Wellington?

WT is at an OK size at the moment. If you were allowed to go higher I'd have changed the design of the place. Maybe have two tiers of seating with corporate boxes in the middle.

[Egan]

Yes I was the one...just want to know a bit more about this proposed second tier that they were going to build onto Westpac.

Ok size...its just another 37,000 seat stadium...not big enough for a public as sports mad as those people from Wellington

[Jeffles]

Egan must be a busy man representing both Mandurah and Wellington. You'd be clocking up the frequent flyer points!

[Ozabyss]

Great pics, I remember looking at WTS from a hotel room, looks wierd if I remember correctly, its located on top of the train yard, but what a great use of space

[IanRitchie]

Great pics, I remember looking at WTS from a hotel room, looks wierd if I remember correctly, its located on top of the train yard, but what a great use of space

Yeah. This somewhat shows it a bit better..