For more than 125 years, teams representing our district have hosted and played opposition at many different venues and grounds. From the first recongised North Otago representive game in 1896, against South Canterbury at the North Road Ground to our current home at Whitestone Contracting Oval, many of these venues have hosted many games and in recent times none more so than Centennial Park/Whitestone Contracting Oval. This venue has became synonymous with North Otago sport hosting rugby, athletics and recently cricket along with other sports on its outer grounds. Former North Otago Cricket President and life member Ted Tempero produced the following report in 2021 on crickets involvement with the Stadium

CENTENNIAL PARK OAMARU

LATER CALLED

WHITESTONE CONTRACTING STADIUM

1978 to 2013

By E (Ted) Tempero 2021

Prior to 1978 North Otago Cricket Association did not have a home ground, most rep matches were played at several venues, Awamoa Park the main park, also Waitaki Boys High School, St Kevins College, King George Park and the ShowGrounds. In 1975, even though we had started negotiations with the Oamaru Borough Council (later Waitaki District Council) about having our home at Redcastle Reserve, later called Centennial Park the formation of Weston Park for the NOCA home ground was started with the laying of a cricket wicket unfortunately after the wicket was layed it was decided that the oval was not suitable, the reasons were that there was a lack of consistent water supply from the Weston water system due to water restrictions, and a conflict of usage with the rugby club.

In 1961 NOCA members attended a meeting with the Oamaru Borough Council regarding the use of Centennial Park for cricket requesting a wicket on the oval and four wickets on the outer grounds. The NOCA wrote to the OBC stating that they will help in any way they can with the development of Centennial Park, in 1964 the NOCA passed the sum of 300 pounds to be paid to the North Otago Sports Bodies Assn for the development of Centennial Park. In 1966 the NOCA wrote to the Sports Bodies Assn stating their disapproval regarding the position of the oval fence, as the position was not suitable for a full size cricket ground.

Between 1966 and 1969 little progress was made with meetings between NOCA, North Otago Athletics, and the OBC reserves dept about the use of the oval, eventually agreement was reached that both sports will use the oval. As late as 1983 we were still having discussions with North Otago Rugby, softball, Athletics, it would be fair to say at that time we were not particularly welcome to Centennial Park. In 1967 NOCA President/Chairman Mike Reid outlined the progress that had been made with the development of Centennial Park and he stressed the need to make the oval our headquarters for cricket. At that time the NOCA were trying to have working bee's to shift the oval fence, it proved to be a bigger job than anticipated and was unsuccessful. Unfortunately the NOCA had to bring in a contractor to finish the fence .

The first game to be held on Centennial Park was in 1978 between North Otago and Fiji this was successful so it was decided to proceed with the development of Centennial Park.

In 1979 the first regular matches to be played were a Colts (u19) also an Otago B match with North Otago.

Because Centennial Park was primarily built for rugby NOCA had to start from scratch. We needed rollers, covers, sight screens (black & white), mowers, and score board, later we added a practice wicket, boundary rope, scarifier. We developed these over a period of time, and after some early problems got what we wanted under the leadership of two good friends Russell Payne (volunteer Groundsman) Ted Tempero (Administrator)

We had a lot of helpers, and volunteers so we were able to keep our costs to a minimum so over time we spent approx $ 35000. The thought of first class cricket in Oamaru helped because this would be one of a few sports to play top class sportsmen/women on a regular basis in our town.

The Oamaru Borough Council later called the Waitaki District Council Reserves dept. were very supportive, they upgraded the oval surface to be suitable for first class cricket matches and generally helped us whenever they could.

North Otago played Hawke Cup cricket plus club finals and lower grade rep matches, plus matches listed below.

On the lighter side, some of the funny/embarrassing things that happened.

On one of the 4 day Shell Trophy matches it was decided to put the float money in the caterers oven. The next morning while we were working out on the ground the caterers arrived early to do some cooking for the lunches, of course they put the oven on , we ended up with a hard lump of a mixture of coins and notes , it didn’t look very tasty.

At a later date I was supposed to make arrangements to bring the players for a Shell Trophy for the start of the match into Oamaru from the Oamaru Airport (yes we had an airport then) but I forgot , leaving the players stranded . The team managed to arrange rides with people and hitch rides on the main road. They all made it. I was given a hard time for some time after by the Otago Team.

In 2002 a young man lit a fire under the scorer’s walkway. Fortunately it was on a game day so there were people about to help put it out and not a lot of damage was done.

We were indebted to some local firms, Oamaru Licencing Trust, Placemakers, Waitaki Transport, Waitaki District Council. De Geest Bros. North Otago Motor Group. Hillary Commission.

In the early 2000’s the decision to shift North Otago cricket to the background at Centennial Park, so it was an end of a very successful era for North Otago Cricket, starting with a rugby ground to become a first class cricket ground with many complimentary comments about the wicket.

RUSSELL PAYNE
Volunteer Groundsman

Pitch Development and Report 1979 to 2013

In the early days of cricket on the oval, we thought the venue was good but the pitch was slow and crumbly So the development began under Ted Tempero’s direction. First Kakanui soil with it’s high clay content was introduced by top dressing and raked into core holes. After much trial and error a combination of 100% Kakanui soil, more leafy dense grass cover,

Strategic watering, rolling and fertilising, the pitch became a consistently good deck suitable for first class cricket,this system was copied by many 1st class grounds around the country.

Next a storage shed / scoreboard was built, then a roller was created from a three wheeled tractor by replacing the wheels and tyres with flat rims on the back and a wide roller in place of the front wheel,a tray was added to the back of tractor to add more weight as required, the rest of our requirements were added as mentioned above.

The grandstand and facilities were suitable for cricket so more development followed to allow us to apply for first class status. Permanent sightscreens with adjustable panels were made to cover all 5 pitches they were carried to and stored in the shed on a purpose made trailer A 25 mtr x 4mtr round top mobile cover was constructed which was towed by our tractor roller,later this covering was changed for scrim or underfelt under flat waterproof covers held down by water filled alkathene pipes . The scoreboard was upgraded, a room for the scorers and a unique system of revolving numbers was added. The white sightscreens were made higher and black shadecloth could be placed over the top of the white for white ball cricket. The roller was replaced by larger one that was able to carry 1 to 5 water tanks depending on the weight required. A scarifier and power broom was purchased these made the pitch renovations easier. All in all a huge project ,voluntary labour was used where possible including our wives and girlfriends who handled the catering, a big part of hosting cricket.

Whitestone Contracting Stadium was an excellent venue for local age groups, representative and First Class cricket, it was an asset for Oamaru for many years.

With rugby wanting the oval for basically one pre season warm up match for the super rugby teams in Jan/feb, cricket was relocated to the back grounds , so the whole process of starting up a new venue began again.