No finality yet on Boxing Day Test venue in Wellington

"It's news to me," was New Zealand Cricket chief executive Christopher Doig's comment that the Basin Reserve has been confirmed as Wellington's venue for the Boxing Day Test against Zimbabwe.

The Dominion newspaper in Wellington this week published that the Test would be at the Basin Reserve.

There has been dispute between New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the WestpacTrust Stadium in the Capital over where the Test should be played.

The stadium has been advertising the Boxing Day Test as one of the pieces of its official programme for more than 12 months while cricket officials, especially those in Wellington, have been keen to develop the Boxing Day Test as a traditional match at the Basin Reserve.

Apart from the appeal of the venue as the complete cricket ground, there is the special backdrop provided at Christmas.

Several Pohutukawa trees surround the ground, a New Zealand native that bursts into bright red flower every year at Christmas time, giving the tree its European description as New Zealand's Christmas tree.

Because the ground is beautifully enhanced by the distinctive annual flowering, Cricket Wellington (CW) president Don Neely has been leading a campaign for the Test to be known as the Pohutukawa Boxing Day Test.

CW sent out its membership brochures earlier this week advertising the Test would be played at the Basin Reserve.

However, CW chief executive Ervin McSweeney told CricInfo that the membership brochure was not an official announcement.

"We simply listed it like that as the most likely scenario of discussions that are going on between NZC and the Stadium at the moment.

"It is our anticipation of a likely outcome of those discussions. If we are wrong, then we are wrong.

"But it allows us to publish a membership option and we couldn't wait any longer for a decision on the venue," he said.

Doig said that the only issue at the moment between NZC and the Stadium was how cricket would deal with Stadium members who wished to attend the Test at the Basin Reserve.

"We have agreed the Basin Reserve is the preferred venue for the Test and we are working through that.

"We are trying to find some common ground.

"The ball is in their court at the moment," Doig said.