Cricket: Hawke's Bay airport 'a hindrance'

The size of Hawke's Bay's airport makes it difficult to bring international cricket teams through from the South Island, says a tour organiser.

John Bishop, liaison officer for New Zealand Cricket, said it was a logistical headache getting players and their luggage from Christchurch to Hawke's Bay for the Sri Lankan one-day match in Napier last month.

Players in the two teams were able to fly in without a problem, but there was no room for their baggage and cricket gear on the relatively small planes servicing Hawke's Bay.

It had to be delivered to Christchurch airport by 6am, sent to Auckland or Wellington, then drip-fed into Hawke's Bay throughout the rest of the day, whenever Air New Zealand could find spare capacity.

Flights at that time of year were usually well-booked anyway, Mr Bishop said, so there was not much spare room for other people's luggage, especially large amounts of it.

There was no guarantee of how long it would take to get it all to Hawke's Bay.

Mr Bishop said when an international team came to Hawke's Bay from a North Island venue it made the move faster and less complicated. He automatically had all the luggage trucked in from either Auckland or Wellington, rather than spend all day waiting for it to arrive on planes.

However, even then it invariably arrived later than the players, which created all sorts of problems.

Television crews and others involved in staging the matches had similar difficulties, Mr Bishop said.

He said a larger runway capable of handling larger jets would help solve the problem.

In future, he would love to avoid bringing an international team directly to Hawke's Bay from a South Island venue, but it might not always be possible.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY