The Basin Reserve is surrounded by New Zealand's biggest roundabout, but attempts to get the game underway today seemed for a while to be heading down its shortest dead-end. It was the sort of fiasco that gives cricket a bad name. The sun had been shining from the word go, but the word go just wouldn't come, and a baffled crowd hung around in T-shirts and shorts wondering why on earth play wouldn't be possible until after tea. The answer was that a howling, horizontal gale the day before had blown rain under the ragged-looking covers and saturated a square that was already on the damp side. The fact that the covers had only been held in place by a few sandbags was bad enough. But when rumour spread that the bowlers' run-ups had been left exposed because the covers were needed to protect the cricket square in advance of a rugby game at the nearby WestpacTrust stadium, patience began to wear thin. The Basin is one of only two international grounds in New Zealand dedicated solely to cricket – Hamilton is the other – and yet cricket seems to rate fairly low on its list of priorities.

Poor drainage – they don't call it the Basin for nothing – made things even worse, and although the overnight rain had stopped around 1 o'clock, it quickly became clear that play wouldn't be able to start until well over 12 hours later. Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher strolled out to the middle again and again, but each time shook their heads slowly, deliberately.

"When is play going to start?" asked a primary-school kid in a tone of voice that suggested he knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Get on with it," heckled a member of the Barmy Army, who for once couldn't find a song to suit the occasion.

It was a shame, because the crowd was healthy and the Basin radiates an old-fashioned, amateurish warmth when the sun is out. The scoreboard had something of the dilettante about it too: players' names were spelt out in higgledy-piggledy lettering that looked more like the botched work of a poison-pen fanatic.

But as the big moment approached, the lush grassy bank that spans most of the western side of the ground began to fill up and you could almost feel a buzz. There was applause as the New Zealanders took the field, and a bit more when England's openers followed. One of the themes of this tour has been the way England fans have outnumbered the locals. Today it may have been because most Wellingtonians had better things to do.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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