Hawke's Bay sports park: Work begins on $2m cricket and boxing facility

Lance Hamilton (left) of Central Stags, Rodney Green, Tania Kerr, Peter Hensman trustee of Giants Boxing welcome the new cricket and boxing centre at Mitre 10 Park. Photo Warren Buckland

Work has begun on the much anticipated $2 million Cricket and Boxing Centre at Mitre 10 Park

The complex will house Central Districts Cricket and Giants Boxing and is estimated to be about 2000 square metres.

It will house four indoor cricket lanes, each one long enough to accommodate a fast bowler run-up. The Boxing area comprises 600 square metres of purpose-built space supported by changing and office facilities in support of both codes.

Hastings Deputy Mayor and chair of the Mitre 10 Park Trust Tania Kerr said she was excited about the opportunity it provided for community engagement of both codes and other sports.

"Our young cricketers are going to see their heroes (Central District players) in action. The Centre also means the region's indoor training capacity for those cricketers increases from 100 to 500 players."

"We are equally excited about the work that Craig McDougall and the team at Giants Boxing do. They currently operate out of temporary facilities in Hastings. This building will allow them to grow their support of rangatahi through boxing and it is a great cross training opportunity for other sports located at the Park," she said.

Rodney Green, chair of the Rodney Green Foundation, which is the principal funder of the project, echoed Kerr's comments.

"Our Foundation strongly endorses the work of Pete (CEO of CD Cricket) and Craig. They make things happen and we enjoy providing financial assistance in support of their work," he said.

The Rodney Green Foundation is a substantial supporter of facility development at Mitre 10 Park.

The building has a completion target of August this year.