Taranaki Cricket to fight for Pukekura Park's Super Smash reinstatement

Taranaki Cricket will fight for improvements to be made at Pukekura Park after New Zealand Cricket hit its hopes of hosting top-flight Super Smash matches this season for six.

The New Plymouth park - once described by cricketing bible Wisden as among the six best venues in the world - was not included as a Central Districts home ground for the T20 format when NZC released the competition schedule this week.

Instead, McLean Park (Napier), Saxton Oval (Nelson) and Fitzherbert Park (Palmerston North) would host the Stags and Hinds double-headers.

NZC had put Pukekura Park - until now a staple of the Christmas/New Year domestic schedule - under increasing scrutiny in recent years over the state of its facilities, including players' changing rooms, training facilities, and match officials' and media facilities.

Temporary improvements were made ahead of 2023's games, but these were not enough to bring the ground up to an acceptable standard.

Earlier this year, the New Plymouth District Council narrowly voted against an $8 million development to replace the structurally compromised Bellringer Pavilion in its recent Long-Term Plan deliberations.

Instead, councillors allocated $3 million to investigate repairing the existing pavilion or look at cheaper replacement options.

Taranaki Cricket general manager Ryan Evans said while the council decision was not directly responsible for the loss of Super Smash games this year, it was a big frustration after years of inaction around the facilities, and meant "it was always in danger of falling off the radar".

"Of course we were very disappointed at the outcome of NPDC's Long-Term Plan deliberations," Evans said.

"We felt a viable option was put forward that enjoyed public support, and would have gone a long way towards rectifying the issues at the park, setting it up for an ongoing future and protecting its legacy.

"But even had that gone through, the writing was on the wall for the immediate future, given the work council proposed was always some years in the future."

Taranaki Cricket was now working on what steps it could take in the immediate future to bring the park up to scratch, Evans said.

"We really feel for our cricket-loving residents, long known for packing the park out for the big games, who won't be able to enjoy Super Smash this year, and we will keep on fighting to return the park to what we believe is its rightful place in the eyes of the sporting world.

"There's a couple of elections and also LTP processes to go before the council's work is due to begin, and we hope to find opportunities to keep working with them to get this necessary work done.

In the meantime, NZC had given the all-clear for Pukekura Park to continue to host 50-over Ford Trophy and Hallyburton Johnstone Shield domestic men's and women's matches.

Three Ford Trophy and four HBJ matches would be hosted at the park this summer, which Evans said was great news, and an increase on recent years.

"We'll be looking at what we can do to ensure we get people through the gates for these free-entry matches, and looking forward to once again hosting the Central Stags and Hinds at Pukekura Park."

Central Districts Cricket chief executive Lance Hamilton said he hoped the increased allocation of one-day matches - all of which would be free admission - would soften the blow for the large cohort of fans who always looked forward to cricket at Pukekura Park.

"Pukekura Park is renowned as one of the world's most beautiful cricket grounds, and it's also home to a highly knowledgeable crowd who enjoy supporting us year after year.

"The [two] opening games and the final round of The Ford Trophy will be key matches for the Stags, and bring the Auckland Aces, Northern Districts and Wellington Firebirds all to town.

"We've been able to get two of these fixtures scheduled on a Sunday to make it as easy as possible for people to attend.

"With the Central Hinds, we've got twice as many one-dayers at Pukekura Park this season - all weekend fixtures, so there are opportunities to see them play the Auckland Hearts and the Canterbury Magicians."

When approached, NZ Cricket referred RNZ to Evans' and Hamilton's statements, saying it had nothing further to add.