Northland Cricket Association is looking forward to its opportunity to showcase the revamped Cobham Oval when Pakistan play the New Zealand XI in a three-day match in Whangarei tomorrow.
Hosting such high calibre teams is a special occasion for the NCA chief executive Gary Bell.
"Having Pakistan confirmed to play here during
their tour recently was quite a nice Christmas present for us," he said.
The last international men's game to be hosted by NCA was at the old Cobham Oval in 1994 when the West Indies toured New Zealand.
The new Cobham Oval ground was formed in 2003 and regularly hosts the Northern Knights domestic matches and has hosted White Ferns fixtures against Australia.
At New Zealand Cricket's suggestion, the Oval has had a significant upgrade since then to align with international standards.
The upgrade included the addition of the Bellahomes Players' Pavilion, as well as merging two changing rooms in the Spire Pavilion to create a spacious second changing facility.
Twelve grass practice strips have been added and the embankment was terraced to seat 5500 spectators comfortably. There is also room for temporary seating to fit extra spectators.
"New Zealand Cricket felt confident enough to give us the game and that is the icing on the cake for all of our hard work," Bell said.
He was expecting the three-day match to be an exciting one, after Pakistan bounced back to win the the third Twenty20 match by 103 runs in Christchurch, on Thursday.
"The NZ XI are a shadow test team where all of the players have got the opportunity to get in some pre-test practice. They will be trying very hard to get a good start with a good first innings, while the bowling team will be fighting back," he said.
Both teams arrive in Whangarei today and Pakistan will be first up in the nets at 10am.
The three-day match will be played in test match conditions, in preparationfor the first test in the National Bank Series on January 7 at Hamilton's Seddon Park.
Play starts at 10.30am and finishes at 5.30pm, with three two hour sessions to be played each day. Entry into Cobham Oval is free, with NZC trying to encourage as many locals and holiday makers to get along.
