The Napier City Council is hoping the sun and rain issues which have threatened McLean Park's future for major cricket will become things of the past with Friday night's match between New Zealand and England.
The three-hour Twenty20 match, starting at 6pm and expected to last about three hours as the third game in a five-match series the New Zealand Black Caps lead 2-1, is the only international cricket fixture on the park this summer, although last week it was revealed the second Black Clash charity match between cricket and rugby stars will be played in Napier on January 17.
The matches come as the council tries to rebuild the ground's reputation after catastrophes at two of the three most-recent major men's cricket internationals, most seriously the 2017 Australia-New Zealand one-day match abandoned because of drainage issues, resulting in the transfer of two other games and leading to rebuilding of the oval with a new drainage system and an all-weather turf.
There was more strife last January when a twilight New-Zealand-India Twenty20 match marking McLean Park's return to the international men's cricket schedule was partly delayed by the glare for batsmen facing the setting sun, but a Black Caps match against Bangladesh in February went ahead without problems.