The Museum Stand clock "is still ticking" on the Basin Reserve's chances of hosting England or India in coming seasons, according to Mark Geenty of STUFF. Wellington was the "big winner" in New Zealand Cricket's schedule with six matches: three each at the Basin Reserve and Westpac Stadium against the West Indies, Pakistan and England. Cricket Wellington CEO Cam Mitchell "carried a familiar warning" from NZC CEO David White: "sort out the Museum Stand or wave goodbye to big tests at the Basin." White said, "We haven't had any further updates. It's a concern for the Basin. It's our historic ground and has been the pre-eminent test ground in the country for many, many years. It's really unfortunate that it's limited by its capacity. The sooner it's resolved the better as far as we're concerned." With the 1,000-seat stand out of action, and health and safety regulations "limiting numbers on the grass hill," the Basin's capacity is fewer than 6,500. Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said in April that his preference was for the Museum Stand to be demolished at an estimated cost of NZ$800,000 ($594,600), as opposed to the NZ$8M ($5.95M) price tag to "strengthen it." Removing the stand would "open up space for another grass hill and potential temporary stands." Mitchell said, "Capacity is the big one for us, and that's the key focus. A decision on the Museum Stand is based around what does that mean in terms of getting the ground up to that 10,000 mark so we can secure those bigger fixtures" (STUFF, 8/2).
