The English cricket team’s coming to Queenstown this summer, but don’t expect to see them padding up.
The Test squad flies into the resort on January 30 for some R&R well ahead of two Tests against the Black Caps, starting February 16 in Mount Maunganui.
Queenstowner Ian Paterson, New Zealand Cricket’s liaison officer for visiting teams, says they’re staying for four or five nights, probably at Arrowtown’s Millbrook Resort.
‘‘They’re starting at a very leisurely pace, acclimatising to NZ conditions.’’
He believes the stopover’s the idea of England coach, ex-Kiwi cricketing great Brendon McCullum (pictured).
In a recent cricket podcast, he said the team’s planning to have some fun here and also reacquaint themselves with each other before getting down to serious training.
Dunedin-raised McCullum’s an early investor in Queenstown’s Gibbston Valley Resort, where he plans to build a holiday home, telling Mountain Scene last year he loves golf, Queenstown and ‘‘drinking wine’’.
