Why Auckland Cricket wants to quit Eden Park for a new home

Thursday, 5 June 2025

David Long explains why Eden Park'stime is up for Auckland Cricket

Auckland Cricket plans to redevelop Colin Maiden Park, relocating from Eden Park after 113 years.

Scheduling conflicts and infrastructure limitations led Auckland Cricket to consider leaving Eden Park.

Funding for the $22 million redevelopment to come from multiple sources, including Auckland Cricket.

Auckland Cricket will take a step further towards permanently leaving Eden Park and relocating to Colin Maiden Park on Thursday.

The cricket association will seek permission from the Ōrākei Local Board for $22 million to be spent redeveloping Colin Maiden Park in St Johns, in east Auckland, and if granted, they’ll leave their home for the past 113 years.

Why do they want to leave Eden Park?

The Auckland Aces have regularly played on the outer oval at Eden Park.

Most of Auckland’s games are played on Eden Park Outer Oval, or the Kennards Hire Community Oval, as it’s officially named.

It’s tucked away in the shadows of the main stadium and offers a nice boutique feel for watching domestic cricket, even if it’s too small, with balls regularly bouncing down Sandringham Rd, and cars swerving to avoid them.

But that’s not the reason why Auckland Cricket wants to move. They no longer feel it’s a suitable home for domestic cricket due to increased scheduling conflicts and infrastructure limitations.

The number of concerts Eden Park can host has gone up to 12 a year, and these are held over the summer months. When these happen, the outer oval is also taken over.

The outer oval backs on to the busy Sandringham Road in Mt Eden.

Upgrading Colin Maiden Park

Auckland Council bought the park in 2014 from the University of Auckland.

It features eight full-sized and three partial sports fields, clubrooms and supporting infrastructure, and Auckland Hockey, Auckland Netball, Oceania Football, and Auckland Tennis are all close by, making it a sporting hub.

If a lease is granted, Auckland Cricket plans for $3.8 million to be spent upgrading the main cricket oval, $2.1m constructing a high-performance all-weather grass training facility, $3m on a broadcast tower, scoreboard and sight screens, $5.9m on new multisport club rooms and changing rooms and a further $4.5 upgrading offices and existing club rooms.

Funding will be sourced from Auckland Cricket, the Eden Park Trust Board, NZ Cricket, and community and commercial fundraising streams.

Will the Black Caps play there?

No. Although this was raised as a possibility a couple of years ago, this is only for domestic cricket. Eden Park will continue to host all formats of international cricket, which basically means Twenty20 and ODI cricket.

There hasn’t been a test at Eden Park since 2018 and, unless the Eden Park Trust Board can convince the Government to hand over $110 million for an upgrade, it’s not likely to be back.

Upset locals?

Well, there aren’t any, except for maybe the cricket fans in west Auckland or the North Shore who don’t fancy battling through the traffic to get to Colin Maiden Park to catch a game.

Auckland Rugby, Auckland University Cricket Club and Eastern Blues AFL club have all given it the thumbs up.

The next steps

If the local board approves this, which they’ve been recommended to do by council staff, Auckland Cricket aims to begin construction in October and be operational at the park a year later.

The main condition for approval, though, will be for Auckland Cricket to prove to the council that they have secured full funding to complete each component of the development.