"It's huge for Rotorua," Mitch Farnell, from Rotorua Cricket, said. "It gives our senior players an opportunity to play against an international team that is getting ready to go off to the ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers."
He said it was really tough to get top international fixtures like the Black Caps, so they were stoked to get a niche match the local cricketing community could enjoy.
The Rotorua Cricket headquarters building at Smallbone Park has also received some upgrades during the off-season.
About $45,000 worth of work has been put into the main building, including a new entry and viewing area, new carpet and other much-needed maintenance.
Australian-based Cook Islands captain Mamanu Emile said he would be arriving a couple of days early in Rotorua, before the rest of squad, and was looking forward to getting out to play on the ground he had heard so much about. "We see our build-up in Rotorua as being a huge opportunity for the boys to face a quality opposition."
The Rotorua representative side is the same which came agonisingly close to winning the Attrill Cup last month, led by in-form captain Jason Trembath and Bay of Plenty representative Andrew Gibbs.
A Rotorua Senior Championship XI side will also have a warm-up game against the Cook Islands next Saturday, starting at 4pm.
This side will be captained by up-and-coming cricketer Bradley Munro who plays for Geyser City in the reserve grade competition.
Rotorua has rich links to Cook Islands Cricket, with former Rotorua Cricket operations manager Alister Stevic now the chief executive and wicket keeper for the national team.
The two T20 matches next Sunday start at 11am and 2.30pm.
