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Welcome to Napier - Art Deco heaven

Adam Mountford Adam Mountford | 09:06 UK time, Thursday, 20 March 2008

The England team and the media pack have made the journey from Wellington to Napier for the final part of this two month tour of New Zealand.

It's about a five-hour journey by road and is a very picturesque route especially as you enter the Hawkes Bay region renowned for its rich and fertile agriculture and numerous wineries.

Hawkes Bay is also famous for having the town with the in the world....

Now I obviously know what that means (!) but to help you out it translates roughly as ‘The hilltop where Tamatea, with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his koauau (flute) to his beloved’.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu attracts lots of visitors

Tamatea's beloved was in fact his brother who was killed during a battle in the area.

Fortunately for our commentary team the third Test takes place in the much more easy to pronounce Napier.

It's England's second visit to the city this tour - the last match here was the international which ended in a tie.

It will certainly have to go something to match the excitement of that, but there is plenty up for grabs here with the Test series level at one all.

Last time we were here we stayed in the same hotel as the England players at .

It's an interesting hotel built around a crazy golf course with each room blessed with its own whirlpool bath.

The TMS team are elsewhere this time, but I am told the English journalists staying at West Quay are having all sorts of fun and games.

With many of the England players' families also around now, space at the hotel is at a premium.

Peter Hayter of the Mail on Sunday has been housed in a converted garage, but that is nothing compared to David Lloyd of the London Evening Standard.

When he opened the door to his designated room he found a double bed and full-size kitchen - very nice he thought.

He then turned around to find he also had 10 bunk beds in his room!

David went to reception to ask if there had been a mistake to be told "sorry sir, that's all we have left".

He's now deciding whether to try and sell the bed space to members of the who may be looking for accommodation, or do a Goldilocks and sleep one night in each bed!

Napier is a fascinating place which attracts visitors from all over the world mainly because of what happened here at 1045 on Tuesday 3rd February 1931.

In less than three minutes a registering 7.9 on the Richter Scale crumpled the city to ruins. But it was the reconstruction of Napier which brings its fame.

When the rebuilding took place it coincided with the Art Deco trend in architecture and the vast majority of buildings in the city centre remain in that style leaving Napier now prized as "The Art Deco Capital of the World".

You’ll hear much more about the city when our reporter Alison Mitchell presents her "Postcard from Napier" during our coverage of the Test and, as you'll hear, Alison enjoys a bird's-eye view of the city care of a flight over Hawkes Bay with pilot Agnew at the controls.

Other things to look forward to during our coverage from McLean Park will be a tribute to who is playing his last Test.

We'll report on Cardiff's preparations to host an Ashes Test in 2009 and, talking of Wales, former Welsh football manager Bobby Gould will join us for a View from the Boundary.

Gould is now coaching football here in Hawkes Bay but he is a cricket obsessive. He's not only going to all five days of the Test, he's also been seen at all the net practice sessions as well!

ECB chairman Giles Clarke will report back from a fascinating ICC meeting in Dubai.

I'm sure you'll want to have your say on such subjects as Darrell Hair's return to top-flight umpiring, the Indian cricket leagues, a new-look World Cup and the trial of a system where players can request that decisions be reviewed by the TV umpire, which looks set to take place during England's series this summer against South Africa.

You can have your say as always on this blog , text 84040 or e-mail tms@bbc.co.uk.

And I'm also looking forward to what our commentators will come up with on the air.

I'm always amazed at what talking points arise during commentary. I'm not sure anything will beat former Australian fast bowler Damien Fleming's "one hit wonders sung by one Test wonders" a couple of years ago.

Arnie Sidebottom sings "Saturday Night" by , Tony Pigott performs "the JCB song" by Nizlopi - you get the idea!

But in Wellington, Bryan Waddle introduced the theme of players with the same surname having the largest difference in height.

The subject was inspired by comparing centurion Tim Ambrose with Curtly Ambrose. We had Robert Croft and Colin Croft suggested … but can you do better?

°ä´Ç³¾³¾±ð²Ô³Ù²õÌýÌýPost your comment

  • 1.
  • At 12:25 PM on 20 Mar 2008,
  • Armitage wrote:

Is it possible to say what time the Cardiff piece will be aired?

Thank you.

  • 2.
  • At 12:36 PM on 20 Mar 2008,
  • Coventry Kiwi wrote:

Born and breed in Napier and now living in Coventry I am looking forward to the Napier test.

To all the Barmy Army fans try the Nacho's at East Pier...defintly worth the money.

C'mon the Black Caps!!

  • 3.
  • At 04:57 PM on 20 Mar 2008,
  • Shaun Anderson wrote:

Excellent interesting article..Napier sounds good.
Just one comment, how many missed stuumpings will Ambrose be allowed before FINALLY James Foster gets a go!

  • 4.
  • At 06:56 PM on 20 Mar 2008,
  • Sam in NZ wrote:

As an Englishman living in NZ, I took my family to Napier, just the once, a couple of years ago.To all the people who have made the trip out there, enjoy it, it's a lovely place. Highlight for me had to be going up the bluff (big hill) between the port and the 'city' on a night where every star in the universe seemed to be reflected on a calm and sleepy Pacific Ocean. Down below in the city centre not a thing moved. No cars, no people. It was like a ghost town. It was 8.30! Somehow, I don't think Napier will be like that for the next few days!

  • 5.
  • At 07:00 PM on 20 Mar 2008,
  • dave the bear wrote:

on the longest placename in the world, apparently this place:-

Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit

(in thailand, for those who didn't know) is even longer at 163 characters, compared with the kiwi place with 92, but sadly isn't yet recognised by the guinness book of records

  • 6.
  • At 09:14 PM on 20 Mar 2008,
  • Steve wrote:

How about JR Reid and Bruce Reid - probably a fair height gap

  • 7.
  • At 11:05 PM on 20 Mar 2008,
  • RobRoy wrote:

That Thai place can't possibly 'have' 163 characters in its name - it's written in Thai, and consequently could be transliterated in any number of ways. I bet the original has fewer than 92 letters in it. Anyway, all these tyrannosaurus place names were made up in the nineteenth-century as curiosities; no one ever used them.

  • 8.
  • At 01:46 AM on 21 Mar 2008,
  • cliffrobin wrote:

Adam -- it's always sad for TMS fans outside the UK to read all about what we'll be missing when internet listening is blocked. Hope you'll consider posting some of the more interesting interviews on this blog.

  • 9.
  • At 03:03 AM on 21 Mar 2008,
  • Simon Corcoran wrote:

im completely with you cliffrobin - what a pain in the proverbial not to be able to listen to your excellent commentary when we are drifting off to sleep. Thankfully i found the online new zealand radio coverage which aggers makes the occassional voyage into! So im not 100% devoid of the brilliance!

  • 10.
  • At 10:16 AM on 21 Mar 2008,
  • Bristolbluemanc wrote:

Napier and its surrounding area is beautiful. Hope the guys have a good test there - I've just returned from New Zealand and Oz and was convinced England would blow their chance of winning the second test (they did try their best with their catching). I'm not so sure about allowing WAGs on these tours - the guys just don't seem to be focused enough. Probably old-fashioned these days, I suppose.

Great to see Napier's Art Deco heritage getting an airing in Sports blog.

Great to see Napier's Art Deco heritage getting an airing in Sports blog.

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