Grounds for optimism at McLean Park
The Stags and Hinds will guinea pigs this summer.
The first of a planned five drop-in cricket pitches is about to go in at McLean Park, ahead of a season which will see the ground host three one-day internationals and a Sri Lanka warmup game ahead of their test series against New Zealand.
Drainage problems mean it will be two years in January since international cricket was played on McLean Park. The entire outfield has been ripped up and replaced, with a new hybrid turf sitting atop various layers of sand and stone designed to ensure a soggy outfield doesn’t see the abandonment of any more games in Napier.
Plans for the five-pitch wicket block are the most exciting development.
Clay from the middle strip was dug up in April to help in the construction of the ground’s first portable pitches. Central Districts Cricket Association chief executive Pete de Wet said four drop-in wickets are currently being cultivated, but won’t be used when the become international players come to town.
Aside from Sri Lanka’s tour game in December, New Zealand’s women’s and men’s teams will play one-day internationals against India on January 23 and 24 respectively, before the Black Caps host Bangladesh in a further 50-over game on February 19.
‘‘What we’ll probably do is play domestic cricket on the drop-in in the first instance, just to test it and make sure it performs at the level that it needs to,’’ de Wet said.
‘‘Napier has alway managed to put up some really good cricket wickets, and the block is a solid one, so I expect they’ll use the [existing] wickets on the block for international cricket and CD Cricket will use the drop-in wickets in the first instance. In the future, once we’re able to ensure that the drop-in wicket’s performing to the level that we need it to, we can take the rest of the block out and just use drop-ins.’’
This will suddenly make McLean Park more of a multi-purpose venue.
The Hurricanes played a Super Rugby game there against the Sharks, on April 6, a week after the Stags had hosted Canterbury in a four-day Plunket Shield match. That meant some wear remained on the wicket block and there were some reports, rather hysterical as it turned out, that the ground was unsafe for the rugby.
But once the entire block can be replaced by drop-in turf designed for football codes, that’s no longer an issue. In fact it can be cricket one day, rugby the next, preventing situations such as last summer’s when the Stags played the final match of their Plunket Shieldwinning campaign across the road at Nelson Park because the last day was scheduled for April 5.