The ground underwent Improvements around that time with, I believe, a re-turf of the field and drainage improvements made.
Just before Napier's World Cup games began it was declared the "pitch is cricket-perfect". A groundsman was quoted as saying: "We have very good drainage out here on the park and we plan to keep it that way. Across the park we have drainage lines about 1.5m apart, so it drains very quickly into the sump"
McLean Park's World Cup games all went ahead without issues (even when it rained the morning of the final game between West Indies and UAE). But since then things haven't been so flash.
Last year's abandoned Pakistan ODI has been repeatedly referenced, but was different from the recent debacle as about 40mm of rain fell the day before the Pakistan game with another 10mm on match day. In other words "it hosed down". Few venues would have been playable after such a deluge.
On the morning of the NZ v Australia match only 4-6mm of rain fell before the game. While Napier's mayor blamed this trickle from the sky as the cause of the 'washout', professional forecasters shot that theory down stating it should be nowhere near enough rain to cause much harm at all.
Yet, for whatever reason, one of the greenest pieces of grass in an otherwise bleached-dry region was "too wet" to play on?
That's not good enough.
It's even worse when ratepayer money went into getting the game here.
I thought New Zealand Cricket dispensed matches out in an egalitarian manner - West Indies will play here, India there etc, but this is not entirely the case.
Hosting venues (or rather the councils behind them) "bid" to host bigger games like NZ v Australia.
Not only is there an expected, ratepayer-funded cost in the logistics of hosting these games, but there's also an added financial sweetener to attract them here.
So to have a big game like this Chappell-Hadlee match canned in such a ham-fisted manner with players, international media and worst of all the rate and ticket-paying public left in the lurch harms not only McLean Park's reputation and reliability, but also Napier's finances.
We want to see Hawke's Bay promoted on the world sporting stage. We want people to visit and enjoy our wonderful region. We want to see international sports played here and as Napier and Hastings' combined population is about 130,500 - the fifth largest population base in New Zealand (Hamilton is 150,000 and Tauranga 128,200) we are in the box seat for hosting such events.
Cricket greats South Africa are due to play here in March, with another ODI against England scheduled to play in 2017/18. But those games aren't going to happen if outfield reliability issues persist, even when the rain doesn't.
McLean Park's drainage problems need plugging.
Napier sporting events deserve better!
- Andrew Frame is a Napier-based commentator on local issues. More of his views and opinions can be read at http://www.napierinframe.co.nz/.
¦Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
