However, some further modifications to the pitch will be undertaken before then to ensure a favourable International Cricket Council report. A rubber stamp from the ICC could then allow for international matches to played on the pitch in coming seasons.
New Zealand Cricket's operations manager, John Reid, Canterbury Cricket's executive director, Tony Murdoch, and Victory Park Board general manager Campbell Prentice met yesterday at the ground to discuss the next step for the experimental wicket.
It was first trialled at the end of last season when a Fuji-Xerox inter-district match was successfully staged at Jade Stadium. However, Reid wants to see a greater clay depth in the Waikari soil used to guarantee the best possible playing surface.
``A depth of 100ml or about four inches is the absolute minimum required. Last season that was the depth of the soil loose, but with compaction it came down to three to three and a half inches across the surface.''
Reid said the cricket tray will have to be emptied and started again as it would be unwise to attempt to put another covering of clay across the top of the already rolled soil from last season. ``That could be asking for trouble with two surfaces and you could get cracking and lifting.''
Reid said that by the time the relaying and preparation work was done, February looked an appropriate time frame to schedule a game, with Canterbury's match against Central Districts from February 11-14 looming as a possibility.
Meanwhile, Reid has been impressed with the early tests done in Auckland of covering a wicket block with artificial turf grass to protect the cricket wicket.
The system was used in Canterbury's pre-NPC rugby trial match against Auckland this season and also on Eden Park's outer oval.
It is intended to use the cover in Christchurch on February 26 when the Crusaders are likely to start the Super 12 season with a home match, just two weeks before the second cricket test between New Zealand and South Africa at the ground.
``It seems fair that if cricket is to compromise the quality of its surrounds with rugby then it is not too much to ask rugby for a relatively small strip of the ground to be covered,'' Reid said.
Prentice expressed confidence in the ability of the ground to cope with its cricket programme this year, including the possibility of a 12-day turnaround if Canterbury hosts the NPC rugby final before a Cricket Max game is played there.