We congratulate the Chair and Trustees of the Canterbury Cricket Trust for the wonderful acquisition of new lighting during the 2020/21 season at Hagley Oval. As is apparent from the photograph the facility is world-class. It now brings another day-night spectacle to Christchurch which will undoubtedly introduce the game to another sector of fans and supporters and fit in with their modern lifestyles.
We are grateful to the Trust for providing this additional information:
“With increased ICC and International Broadcasting standards The Trust determined six permanent light towers were necessary to meet these strict requirements. So began an application process through the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery legislation to support Christchurch’s bid for Women’s Cricket World Cup matches now to be held in 2022 (the tournament was delayed one year due to Covid-19). The lights were made possible by financial support from the Christchurch City Council, Rata Foundation, a personal benefactor as well as Sport New Zealand. The light towers were officially turned on by the Honourable Grant Robertson, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on 15 December 2020 and at the same time it was announced Hagley Oval will hold the Women’s Cricket World Cup final and semi-final in late March 2022. The first ball bowled under lights was by Grant Robertson to Sir Richard Hadlee with Stephen Boock umpiring.”
The first cricket use of the lights occurred during the New Zealand v Pakistan January 2021 Test match to overcome bad light which enabled the match to continue contributing to the Black Caps total of 659 with Willows member Henry Nicholls 154 and Canterbury player Daryl Mitchell 102 not out along with Kane Williamson’s 238.
Canterbury Cricket Kings and Magicians played their T20 matches in January 2021 under Hagley Oval lights and on the 10th anniversary of the Christchurch earthquakes the Black Caps and Australia played the first international cricket match under lights watched by 9,000 spectators and 1.2 million local TV viewers.