KEY POINTS:
Auckland cricket will take a lengthy holiday from Eden Park after this summer, as the rugby World Cup plans move into full swing.
The south stand has already gone and the outer oval will be turned into a construction site/car park at the end of the coming domestic season as the redevelopment gathers pace.
But Auckland Cricket officials are hopeful internationals will be played on the main oval in each of the next two seasons.
Three games are set down for this summer: a Twenty20 international against the West Indies on Boxing Day, an ODI against the same opponents on January 10 and another ODI against India on March 16.
"It's a little bit dependent on construction plans but all agreements anticipate us having international cricket on the main stadium again next season, certainly two games and ideally three," Auckland Cricket chief executive Andrew Eade said.
Ground renovations are expected to be finished by December 2010, enabling international one-day games later that summer on the main oval to help provide a dry run on facilities for the World Cup.
Auckland will play their domestic games at Colin Maiden Park in Glen Innes, home of the University club, for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, and the front half of the 2011-12 campaign as well, with the hope of returning to the outer oval early in 2012 once post-World Cup work has been completed.
Part of that block of work will be brushing up the outer oval to have it ready for Auckland's hoped-for return to the test match roster in 2012-13.
Turning the northern end into a grass embankment is a key plank of developments aimed at turning the outer oval into a picturesque boutique ground. The International Cricket Council, through match referee Alan Hurst, have already given Auckland officials a provisional green light for the ground as a test venue.
However the main oval's days as a test host are almost certainly over. NZC don't want to use large stadiums for tests, and Eade said Auckland essentially agreed with that.
He knows having to wait until the 2012-13 season for Auckland's next test sounds depressing, but is hopeful good things come to those prepared to wait - and certainly it's better than not at all.
"If we can get the outer oval as a test ground, I think it will be a very good outcome for cricket," Eade added.
And if officials dig out their crystal ball in the hope of seeing who they might be entertaining that summer they're out of luck. The ICC's Future Tours Programme is inked in only until April 2012.
