Cricketers slam pitch as ‘a joke’

First-class cricketers and umpires have slammed playing on a Central Otago cricket pitch as ‘‘a joke’’ and likened the ground to a ‘‘dry riverbed of rolled mud’’.

The scathing assessment of Alexandra’s Molyneux Park pitch performance is detailed in a report to be presented to the Central Otago District Council tomorrow.

A four-day Plunket Shield match between the Otago Volts and Central Stags was played at the ground in early December. The Otago Volts then took on the Northern Knights in a T20 match on December 30.

A ‘‘Venue Warrant of Fitness’’ provided by the captains and umpires rated the ground as below average for the earlier match and poor for the latter.

‘‘Unfortunately, the practice and playing surfaces were not of the required standard being bare of grass and looked like a dry riverbed of rolled mud.’’

Both captains called the pitch ‘‘a joke’’, rated it one out of 10 and voiced concern for the quality of cricket being produced for the good crowd.

‘‘The pitch was devoid of life throughout the match, lacking bounce and pace [only six bouncers in the whole match],’’ the assessment of the four-day match says.

On day one of the four-day match the pitch had started to crumble and the ball – only 16 overs old – was so badly damaged from the rough surface pieces of leather came off.

‘‘Overall the pitch was starting to look like a day four wicket.’’

An unseasonable dumping of rain made a bad pitch worse.

‘‘Safety wasn’t an issue, but conditions were substandard . . . The underlying issue is a lack of drainage immediately around the block.’’

Remedial action was carried out in consultation with New Zealand Cricket including spiking problem areas and applying sawdust.

‘‘Alexandra has had significant unseasonable rainfall and the groundsman hadn’t previously been exposed to the problems and needed direction.’’

The report says a meeting between the council, Asplundh – which manages the grounds – and New Zealand Cricket should have happened after the first match to consider the first Warrant of Fitness and to put in place any remedial action needed before the T20 game. That meeting did not take place.

Asplundh had since reported to council the ground staff had been ‘‘overly protective’’ of the wicket block and had it covered too long given the weather at the time.

New Zealand Cricket had indicated Alexandra would not lose its first-class cricket match status, the report says.

The council had made a commitment to NZC a long-awaited upgrade of the wicket block would happen during February. An extra wicket strip was also planned.

The council invested $26,000 towards extra qualified grounds staff following a 2016-17 venue warrant of fitness and $150,000 to upgrade the changing facilities in order to retain first-class matches.