Delays in the re-turf of Napier's McLean Park has seen the Black Caps' second One Day International against England shifted to Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.
McLean Park began work on its surface early in 2017 and initially targeted being ready for the upcoming international summer. Napier City Council Chief Executive Wayne Jack said that a number of factors had changed that timeline.
"This is not the outcome we wanted or were expecting," said Jack.
"However, we've been advised by our sportsground turf specialist up in Auckland that the volatile weather conditions have obstructed the opportunity to get this specialised grass grown and we haven't been able to access the 7,600 tonnes of special grade sand we need to lay the carpet in time.
"Sadly, despite huge effort on all sides, these are factors outside of our control. We've explored all avenues and together with New Zealand Cricket, made the very difficult decision that we can't take the risk on what is a really important match in February.
"We're now revising all our time frames and looking forward to getting this job done, subject to some good grass-growing weather."
