Getting more HRV Cup Twenty20 games was expected after the success of last summer but backers of cricket's new Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui admit the ground's fresh designation as a one-day domestic venue caught them on the hop.
The $1 million Bay Oval, which has been in use for
three summers for Twenty20, has been given the nod to host four more HRV Cup games this summer but, with the long-awaited pavilion project still stalled, the Bay Oval Trust weren't hopeful of hosting anything further.
But the ground got the nod from Northern Districts and New Zealand Cricket for two domestic one-day games involving the Northern Knights and Canterbury on December 4, and the Knights and Auckland three days later.
Bay Cricket Trust executive officer Kelvin Jones said their impression was the ground was unsuitable for anything other than Twenty20 until completion of the pavilion's $2.4 million first stage.
"To get two one-dayers as well as four Twenty20 games was a big surprise given we'd always been told that, until the infrastructure and facilities were in place, nothing longer than Twenty20 could be played there," Jones said.
"What was said to us [when the domestic schedule came out] was that, while technically that's still correct and we shouldn't have these games, we're making good progress so they'll give us a crack. Having a good off-field practice facility has helped."
With $2.1 million in grants and donations sitting waiting to be used, the Bay Cricket Trust had hoped they would already be well under way with the pavilion complex, which would sit at the northern end of the ground and house player and officials' changing rooms, player viewing area, administrative offices, public toilets and ground user storage. There is still bare ground where the pavilion should be and nothing will be completed in time for this summer.
"Nothing much has changed ... which is gutting, but there's one more hoop we need to jump through with council, a memorandum of understanding with hockey and cricket," Jones said.
"We'd hoped to have something in place by Christmas but in the last couple of months have realised we wouldn't achieve that. We'll now have to bear the cost of bringing in temporary facilities again to use this summer."
The Bay Oval last summer hosted 10,000 fans for two Twenty20 games (a third was washed out) - twice as many per game as any other HRV Cup venue.
The Twenty20 championship will be held over the Christmas/New Year period, with the December 18 first round featuring Sunday afternoon matches in Auckland, Rangiora and Dunedin. Northern's four games at Mount Maunganui are between December 31 and January 8, the height of the holiday season.
"We argued our case [to host games] but the reality is we sit back and wait for ND to come to us with our allocation. The clincher as far as the Bay Oval's concerned is the timing of the games - it was a no-brainer in terms of bringing them here. It's purely about the quality of the ground and the crowds we can get."
The 2011/12 domestic cricket season begins on November 7 with the first of four rounds of pre-Christmas Plunket Shield four-day matches, with the men's one-day trophy contested over eight full rounds of competition, followed by an extended finals series that includes preliminary finals, a semifinal and final.
With two full rounds of the HRV Cup, points will decide the top two teams who will meet in the final on January 22. With no international cricket in New Zealand until the end of January, the Black Caps are expected to play a full part in the domestic Twenty/20 championship.
Fans won't have to wait until summer to see action at the Bay Oval, however, with the national champion Auckland team due for a training camp next week before a qualifying tournament as New Zealand's representatives in the Champions League in India.
Bay Oval games this summer - National one-day competition:
* December 4: Northern Knights v Canterbury.
* December 7: Northern Knights v Auckland.
HRV Cup Twenty20 competition:
* December 31: Northern Knights v Canterbury, 2pm.
* January 4: Northern Knights v Wellington, 5pm.
* January 5: Northern Knights v Central Districts, 5pm.
* January 8: Northern Knights v Auckland, 4pm.