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Eden Park turf manager ready to transform the pitch from cricket to rugby

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 24 Nov 2020, 8:45PM
(Photo / NZ Herald)
(Photo / NZ Herald)

Eden Park turf manager ready to transform the pitch from cricket to rugby

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 24 Nov 2020, 8:45PM

Eden Park turf manager Blair Christiansen has a plan locked in, now he just needs the weather to play ball.

The ground will host the first Twenty20 cricket match between the Black Caps and the West Indies on Friday night, before having to transform it into a rugby field for the Mitre 10 Cup premiership final between Auckland and Tasman on Saturday evening.

Christiansen says they'll be straight into their work as soon as the final ball is bowled on Friday night. 

"Post will go straight up [and] logos to wash off. When we come in Saturday morning, the field will be ready for the cricket tray come out and the field marking for rugby."

He says they've sorted the timings around what needs to be done when, but mother nature is her own beast.

"If it was to rain all day Saturday, I'd have to find a way to get that line marking on for the rugby, but that period where I've allocated that time, at the moment, the weather forecast is okay.

"That's the one things we can't change where we've got such a fast turnaround."

Christiansen says hopefully it'll be almost impossible to tell the difference, apart from if you're close enough to measure the grass length.

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