Retiring Northern Districts chairman Michael Sandlant fired a few shots in his last comments in the ND annual report today.

In a free-ranging report, in which he allowed himself "to roam, reminisce, recount and ramble" he was upset at the non-awarding of a Test match to Hamilton during the England series.

That decision had been made on the basis of Hamilton not being able to cater for the Barmy Army which follows the England team.

"Here we have; without doubt, the best Test match ground and pitch in the country, according to players, press and all cricket personnel, and yet are awarded the sop of a Test Match against minnows, Bangladesh.

"After all the hard work put into the ground by Hamilton City, our grounds persons and our staff led by John Turkington, our Board viewed this decision with dismay and incredulity.

"What more can we do to be given these Test matches as of right?

"Maybe we should make every endeavour to be represented on the New Zealand board to make sure that we are fully recognised at that level of decision-making," he said.

Reviewing his time on the association Sandlant said the ground that was Seddon Park in 1989 is now unrecognisable and was a magnificent facility.

However, it did note that the increasing reliance on New Zealand Cricket to provide the Association's funding was a concern.

"I believe it is inevitable that some time in the future this dependency will increase as we are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain sufficient funding for our activities which are under greater demand than ever before," he said.

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