Does Auckland deserve to have a Test match as of right any longer?

Pitiful crowds at Eden Park for yet another Test match beg the question.

Auckland's ground authorities have gone to the trouble of putting in portable pitch technology and while there have been some developmental problems for this first Test of the National Bank series, the fact remains that crowds for each day of play have hovered around the 2000-3000 mark.

It is a fact that Auckland has always had a Test since regular tours became part of New Zealand's summer programme.

As the main centre of population it always commanded that treatment.

But Auckland has become something of a cash cow for New Zealand Cricket. It has hosted three One-Day Internationals this summer, none of them notable for outstanding crowd figures.

Clearly, the chance to see the Blacks Caps in action has waning appeal, especially with the onset of Super 12 rugby intruding so far into the summer.

The issue becomes a political one for cricket administrators.

Does cricket give Auckland a wake up call by taking a Test away from it next summer? Or does it give Auckland less ODIs in the hope that might make people want to watch Test cricket?

Should they take a Test away, ground officials may decide that rugby should take an even greater precedence than is already the case. Cricket can't be denied access to the ground under the joint ownership agreement. But there could be an Auckland reaction if a funding opportunity was denied the ground.

With so many teams touring now, is it a case of keeping Auckland as a venue for the world's most appealing teams - Australia, South Africa, England and the West Indies?

Whatever, the new chief executive of New Zealand Cricket when he is appointed will have to confront the Eden Park conundrum.

Auckland does have a cricket tradition, and it may be that the portable pitch technology will produce better pitches than has been the case in the past, but the game itself is not being served by being played in the funereal atmosphere that has been the case in Auckland in recent years.

Auckland has become the city of sails, the home of the Blues or the whare of the Warriors, but it is not the welcoming home for New Zealand's cricketers that it once was.

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