The Basin Reserve at 'peace' with itself

The Basin Reserve may become a mecca for ufologists.

Mysterious crop circles have appeared in the outfield during the course of the State Championship match between Wellington and Central Districts which ends today.

The Basin Reserve was the target over the weekend of vandals who hot-wired the heavy roller and drove it through a long section of picket fence.

Now people are asking whether it might not also have been visited by cricketers from another world. Groundsman Trevor Jackson noticed a large circular marking on the ground on Tuesday and as this match has progressed the mystery marking it has become more and more pronounced.

It is now, quite clearly, a peace symbol - a perfect circle some 25 metres in diameter with three lines meeting at the exact centre.

Speculation has become rife about the origin of the circle and its meaning. Its architects have been able to produce a very exact symbol, perfectly drawn, whose shape and nature is only truly obvious from a height.

Whether the symbol has grown out of the outfield by the beginning of the Boxing Day Test is doubtful. It lies at the southern end of the Basin, on a line between the RA Vance Stand and Government House and it could well lead to arguments about how many players have to field within the circle.