Cricket: Big plans afoot for University Oval

New Zealand v South Africa, first test, University Oval, February 2012. If that sounds far fetched it shouldn't.

Plans are well advanced to enlarge the playing area of the Dunedin ground to make it a quality test venue for international teams.

University Oval is hosting its third test in as many years this week - against Bangladesh, the West Indies and now Pakistan - but questions have always surrounded the size of the ground.

At its worst the boundary is 52m away from the middle, but it does conform to the International Cricket Council guidelines for test cricket.

But the Dunedin City Council is keen to spruce up the ground to turn it into a facility fit to hold tests against the best.

The stumbling block has been the old Art Gallery, which comes under the auspices of the Historic Places Trust, and sits right on the edge of the boundary at the northern end of the ground.

Negotiations are still at a delicate stage, and t's and i's need crossing and dotting, but it is understood progress is well on track to remove part of the brick gallery, move the media centre at the same end of the ground back and build up the grass embankment.

That would serve a dual purpose of increasing the capacity to about 6500 from the present 3500, plus get the boundary back to 65m, which would cut back the frequency of the top-edged sixes.

Details are still being worked through but the hope is that work could start on excavation and drainage at the end of February.

It would be an asset for New Zealand cricket in general, which needs a top-class South Island test facility - with a test ground in Christchurch nowhere in sight - to balance the established northern venues of the Basin Reserve in Wellington, Napier's McLean Park and Seddon Park in Hamilton.

Added into the mix, Auckland Cricket also has long-term plans to get Eden Park's Outer Oval into test shape in time for the 2012-13 season.

"If in the next two or three years we have a venue with a capacity of 6500 and have the infrastructure you need we would want to be hosting tests against the top nations, like Australia, India or England," Otago Cricket chief executive Ross Dykes said yesterday.

"That's our goal and with the support we're getting from the Dunedin City Council we see it as achievable."

There is clearly a positive mood of sporting regeneration in the south, with cranes stretching up behind the trees surrounding University Oval as the construction of the city's indoor multi-purpose stadium gathers pace across the road.