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ON THE JOB: Pakistani journalist Zahid Malik at work, finally, at the Basin Reserve yesterday.
New Zealand’s top order batsmen were not the only ones who welcomed the bad light that forced the players off the Basin Reserve just 17 balls into the Boxing Day cricket test.
The three-hour break in play brought geographically challenged Pakistani journalist Zahid Malik some much-needed time as he tried to find his way to the test venue.
Zahid’s problem was the fact that he was searching for the Wellington roundabout about 500 kilometres away in Christchurch.
The Daily Khabrian scribe became increasingly frazzled when his calls to New Zealand Cricket media liaison officer Simon Wilson – seeking directions from the airport to the Basin – did not stack up. Zahid, who had apparently confused the Basin with NZ Cricket’s headquarters in Christchurch, rang three times and even got his taxi driver on the phone to try to make sense of the directions.
The incident had Kiwi journalists in the Basin press box in stitches as Wilson tried to explain New Zealand’s premier cricket venue was hard to miss and that, no, it did not have a “number on the letter box”.
The giveaway came when the cabbie insisted he had not heard of Mt Victoria tunnel. Wilson suggested Zahid needed a taxi with wings if he intended to catch any of the first day’s play.
Zahid’s mood lifted when he trudged into the press box at 3.10pm with New Zealand 31 for 2.
