Pressure to upgrade cricket before world cup

Nelson might miss out on premier international cricket games unless upgrades to the city’s cricket facilities are brought forward.

New Zealand is jointly hosting the 2028 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with Australia.

However, important upgrades of Nelson’s Saxton Oval aren’t scheduled to be completed until after the competition, in the 2029/30 financial year.

The upgrades consist of a renewal of the oval’s surface and the installation of media towers.

Jake Inwood, general manager of Nelson Cricket, has asked the region’s two councils, who jointly run the Saxton Field sports complex, to bring the projects forward.

“We think Nelson’s a great region to bring people to, so we’re just keen to keep developing Saxton Oval to put us at the forefront of people's minds and put us in the best position we can be to secure content moving forward.”

Jake says international games have a “massive” economic benefit for the region and are “aspirational” for children interested in the sport.

“Having those kids down there watching their heroes … playing on this venue at that highest level will help inspire the next generation.”

New Zealand Cricket was also working on a venue strategy and Jake adds there was a “real risk” that Nelson could be put at the bottom of the list because of its lack of supporting infrastructure.

However, the two projects for the oval cost just over $750,000 and the councils are reluctant to shuffle planned funding around in a way that puts additional pressure on the community.

“Times are just so tough for our ratepayers, and also for council for balancing its budgets at the moment, so we’re being much more careful, I suppose, around managing our bottom line than we’ve had to be in the past,” said Andrew White, the Nelson council’s group manager community services.

“At this stage, I don’t think any council has got an appetite to change the LTP [Long-Term Plan] figures,” agreed Tasman councillor Brent Maru.

To try and minimise the impact on the planned budget, Brent suggested that some of cricket upgrades could be re-prioritised with Saxton Oval projects being swapped in timing for work on the Harakeke Green which was often used for community cricket.

While Jake says he didn’t want the councils to “lose sight” of the Harakeke Green projects – which include installing wicket blocks – he would favour that re-prioritisation.

“We have the venues around the region to play the community cricket which would be where Harakeke would come into play, whereas the media towers and surface renewal would help us secure content going forward.”

However, the upgrades for Harakeke Green before the 2028 competition amount to about $500,000 and wouldn’t cover the total cost of the necessary upgrades of Saxton Oval.

Council staff were directed to investigate potential workable solutions on how to bring the projects forward with the findings to be reported to the sportsground’s joint committee at a later date.

Speaking after his presentation to the committee, Jake says he acknowledges the difficult financial positions of the councils.

“We’re just really appreciative to be part of that conversation… and for some investment to be in the LTP for cricket to start with.”

Getting international cricket games to Nelson was a tumultuous experience ahead of the last summer season when three matches were jeopardised because of Saxton Field’s alcohol advertising policy.

The policy has since been amended to allow for exemptions to the alcohol advertising ban in the case of international games.

Fibre internet was also installed to the wickets last year to give Saxton Oval an edge in the bidding process to host matches.