Cricket: Eden Park gears up for bumper T20 weekend

To get bums on seats there are shorter breaks between games and there will be attractions for youngsters. Photo / Doug Sherring

Hamilton's had two turns at it, now it's Auckland's opportunity to host a weekend of domestic T20 cricket.

Five games from tomorrow night to early Sunday evening will make it a bumper viewing opportunity under New Zealand Cricket's redesign of the renamed Georgie Pie Super Smash.

Auckland Cricket chief executive Mark Cameron says he's a fan.

"I love it," he said. "This year is about trialling different things. What this means is wall-to-wall TV over the weekend, and that's highly important to us."

How to get bums on seats though, and to stay? There are shorter breaks between games and there will be attractions for youngsters, among them 500 Auckland Aces shirts to be given away. As well, in a first, Auckland Cricket has restricted seating to the southern and lower eastern stands of Eden Park.

This is a punt. Cameron knows it will mean large tracts of empty seating, which is not a good look on TV.

"But we're trying to create some atmosphere by having people sitting in one area of the ground," he said.

Auckland feature in three of the five games - against Wellington tomorrow night, Central Districts on Saturday and Northern Districts in the final match of the weekend on Sunday. Wellington also play ND on Saturday and CD on Sunday.

Cameron says the timing of these six weekend extravaganzas is handy.

"There's not a lot of sport happening and it's brilliant from a TV perspective. Ultimately that's where the majority of people watch their sport," he said.

It doesn't hurt either that Auckland, having won their first two games, are in good shape on the ladder. Their English import Luke Wright arrives early next week and remains until the finals.