Eden Park ‘best pitch’

Often maligned for its tiny straight boundaries and odd shape, Auckland’s Eden Park has been named New Zealand’s international cricket pitch of the year.

The drop-in pitch at the multipurpose stadium was recognised by New Zealand Cricket, taking into account reports from the ICC and NZ Cricket Players’ Association surveys.

Turf manager Blair Christiansen and his team got the gong ahead of NZC’s three main test venues, Hamilton’s Seddon Park, Wellington’s Basin Reserve and Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.

The Basin was named domestic long format pitch and Hagley Oval the domestic short format pitch of the 2019-20 season, headed by respective turf managers Hagen Faith (Wellington) and Rupert Bool (Christchurch).

Hagley Oval witnessed one of the most remarkable cricketing moments of the season when Canterbury’s Leo Carter slammed the Knights’ Anton Devcich for six sixes in an over during a Twenty20 match in January.

Eden Park hosted four Black Caps internationals in the recent season and the pitch again showed consistent pace and bounce, giving batsmen and bowlers both a fair chance.

A rain-reduced 11-over match against England in November ended in a tie, 146 runs apiece, before England won in a Super Over, and in the T20 opener against India in January the tourists chased down 204 to beat the Black Caps with an over to spare.

Eden Park chief executive Nick Sautner said: ‘‘It’s always a highlight to be acknowledged by the industry for the effort our team puts into creating a world-class surface.

Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval and Seddon Park hosted the two-test England series in November which the Black Caps won 1-0.

The flat, reasonably lifeless pitches for both raised the ire of the touring England media, with ESPN Cric info cricket writer George Dobell saying they would ‘‘kill’’ test cricket.

Pitches for the 2-0 test series win over India in February were completely different, with the Basin and Hagley both green seamers where ball dominated bat.

Graham Parks, NZC general manager of venues facilities events, said the awards were in recognition of the outstanding performance of turf managers across New Zealand in producing high quality cricket surfaces.

‘‘Over the past season, across all formats of the game, 97% of cricket pitches prepared were rated as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’ based on reports from the ICC, NZC, and players association surveys.’’