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ICC approves portable pitches for Tests

Cricket's governing body has given its blessings to the use of portable pitches for Tests, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Friday.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) approved portable pitches following a trial cricket Max game between New Zealand and the West Indies in Christchurch late last year.

"This will give us tremendous flexibility in setting out international programmes as cricket in the major stadia in New Zealand so often comes into conflict with rugby, particularly in late October and February-March," said NZC chief executive Chris Doig.

"The ICC recognises that there are difficulties in getting a suitable playing surface in many parts of the world and while the concept of portable pitches is not yet widespread, there is considerable interest in how it can be used."

NZC first came up with the idea of portable pitches four years ago and was given substantial development funding by the governments sports funding agency, the Hillary Commission. It has since been working on the development with Christchurch-based Portable Pitches World Wide and the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute.

The portable pitch was first tried in a provincial Hawke Cup elimination match.

"There were a few minor performance problems which were worked on during the off-season and this season's trial with the Max game was so successful that the West Indians didn't realise they were playing on a portable surface," NZC operations manager John Reid said.

The portable pitch is grown in a special tray off-site and is lifted by crane on to the playing area where it replaces another tray of normal playing-surface turf.

While it takes about a day to install, Reid said experience had shown it's best to give the temporary surface about a week to marry into its surroundings.

There is only one portable pitch in use in New Zealand at present, at Jade Stadium in Christchurch.