Cricket: Eden Park changes create the perfect match

Eden Park turf manager Mark Perham inspects the wicket. Photo / Richard Robinson

Cricket at Eden Park will be a whole new ball game from this summer.

Although next year's Rugby World Cup is the reason behind the park's multi-million dollar makeover, one-day and Twenty20 matches will return to a park very differently configured.

The first foray for cricket fans will probably be a one day international against Pakistan in December or January - although that is not yet confirmed.

Fans will find the park much more geared up for cricket. For a start, the pitch has been tweaked through 45 degrees - meaning members who buy the best seats in the house, on or about rugby's halfway line, will get the biggest bill and the best view.

Those members' seats will look straight up and down the wicket - allowing them to watch the flight and movement of the ball.

Previously, in Eden Park's rather eccentric original layout, the best seats in the house (in terms of looking down the pitch; a must for many cricket fans) were on the edge of the now-departed terraces and in the furthest, uppermost reaches of the old No 1 stand. So the paradox of the cheaper seats having some of the better views has disappeared.

The changes also mend the perception of Eden Park as a rugby ground struggling to be a cricket ground as well. The new park is configured in much more of an oval shape, with more regular boundaries. A clever solution to the old rugby vs cricket dilemma is the temporary seating that can be rolled out in front of the new South Stand.

That seating is rolled away when it's time for cricket - exposing the concrete and steel runners which support the seats and which make them moveable. Eden Park ground staff then roll down a new carpet of grass that covers up the hard spaces and the runners - and which takes the boundaries for cricket up to the edge of the new stand.

It's that grass that is part of the secret to Eden Park's revamp. Although the park is in the heart of Auckland, it is Counties grass forming the playing base.

Head groundsman Mark Perham manages a 16-acre tract of land at Karaka. The land has been leased over the last three years to service all turf replacement requirements. The grass that is laid over the temporary seating area comes from there - and the technology and techniques developed by Perham and his people have captured international attention.

Eden Park's expertise with drop-in pitches has recently seen them courted by a New York company looking to stage a tournament on Staten Island. Perham and co would help with the drop-in pitch and the grass to be used - as US sports organisations are well versed in baseball diamonds but not cricket wickets.

Because of agriculture restrictions, the Kiwis cannot just export the grass to New York. Instead, the trays behind the successful grass-growing and transporting techniques of Perham's team would be taken to New York, along with the team, as part of their intellectual property.

What all this means is that the old days of Eden Park being a rugby ground that also hosts cricket are even further behind us - although it means a much more complex task than previously.

Gone are the days when you could just sprinkle a bit of grass seed around, set up a couple of scarecrows and wait for a lush emerald sporting field to flourish. These days, turf management is not only about getting the best sporting performance out of the park, it is also about saving money and new revenue streams.

"All the turf to replace the number two ground - when we get it back from the construction crews - is being grown there [Karaka]," says Perham.

"We're also selling the grass as part of our commercial business arm to places like Whangarei's Okara Park and Hamilton's Waikato Stadium."

"We've been doing drop-in pitches now for eight years," Perham says. "We have been pricing up what it'll cost to send our trays and technology to New York, for example. We can't send our soil and clay because of the restrictions but baseball diamonds work on similar principles to cricket pitches when it comes to their make-up."

Another use for the Karaka Farm is replenishing the Eden Park surface between cricket and rugby matches. The retractable seating which rolls out from under the South Stand are tucked away, the runners covered in steel trays filled with sand and covered with turf for cricket.

The main surface is covered in what Perham describes as "Centurion rye, an ideal cool Season grass." It is suitable for temperatures less than 26 degrees and watered twice a day in summer to prevent it browning off or getting patchy with weeds. It grows in the shade, meaning it survives well under the north stand roof.

Test cricket will likely not be held at Eden Park's main ground - but could instead be held at the old No 2 ground, after it is refurbished after the Rugby World Cup.

Before and after construction Perham says the number two ground will be covered in premier couch grass. He says it is drought-tolerant and also used at Auckland Cricket's temporary ground at Colin Maiden Park.

The turf farm has helped Perham and his team save money, with the composting of grass clippings from Eden Park and Colin Maiden Park. Once they used to dump such organic waste in a landfill, now it is recycled for spreading on the prospective replacement turf and harrowed into the soil before the growth cycle. That has helped cut their costs from $38,000 to around $7000 a year.

Perham and his team are due to get Eden Park's main ground back for full use from the construction crews by September 12. They'll have it for the remainder of the domestic rugby season and in time to host the November 6 rugby league test between the Kiwis and Kangaroos.

If the Auckland rugby team makes the ITM Cup final it will be played on Eden Park the day before.

After that, it'll be cricket's turn to enjoy a new park - and a whole new ball game.