Palmerston North left off Stags’ itinerary
The Manawatu¯ cricket fraternity is disappointed the Central Districts men’s cricket team have snubbed Palmerston North this summer.
The schedule for the domestic first-class season was released this week and the CD men aren’t scheduled to play in Palmerston North. All CD’S home games are at Nelson, New Plymouth and Napier.
But the Central Hinds women will play two one-day games against Otago at Fitzherbert Park in March.
CD chief executive Pete de Wet said the association only has a certain number of fixtures to allocate. The Super Smash Twenty20 competition has to be televised due to sponsorship arrangements, and Napier and New Plymouth are the preferred venues for TV games.
De Wet said their two televised games are at Napier and they always get good support for Super Smash games in Taranaki, which will this year be men’s and women’s double-headers.
For one round of the one-day competition, all teams play at Lincoln, which is a cost saver for New Zealand Cricket. That means there are only four home games, and because Nelson lost a Twenty20 game, it was given a second one-day match, de Wet said.
‘‘It’s just unfortunate this time around Palmy missed out. I’ll have a conversation with [Manawatu¯ ] around a plan for next season.
‘‘That’s the way it goes and the reality of having four venues to choose from when you’ve only got a finite number of games.’’
Manawatu¯ Cricket Association chairwoman Carla na Nagara will meet with De Wet about why Palmerston North missed out.
Na Nagara was disappointed, but wanted to improve the chance of having future Stags’ games at Fitzherbert Park.
‘‘We are in conversations with CD about that – just understanding the basis of why the decisions to allocate venues are made, so we can understand what we can do to improve the likelihood that we’ll get those matches going forward,’’ she said.
First-class men’s cricket was important for the profile of the sport in the community, but having two women’s games was also vital. Former New Zealand pace bowler and Manawatu¯ stalwart Mike Mason was disappointed.
‘‘I thought Palmerston North would definitely get one,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve had some good games there. It’s pretty disappointing for the Manawatu¯ cricket boys.’’ Fitzherbert Park is having work done to meet the warrant of fitness for Plunket Shield fourday games.
A new scorers’ box, sight screens and sliding doors in the pavilion should be ready soon.