A Facebook Page to support

Regular readers will be only too well aware that we don't like cricket; we love it. Of all the sports we've played or followed, cricket is at the top of the list; it is our first and most enduring sporting love affair.

Christchurch has a great tradition in New Zealand cricket; it's the city that produced the Hadlee family after all. But at the moment, Canterbury cricket is somewhat homeless. Since the February 2011 earthquake left AMI Stadium munted, cricket has been on the search for a new home. Lincoln is fine, but it is a long way out of the city, and the facilities for spectators are pretty limited. And Mainpower Oval at Rangiora is realistically nothing more than a provincial facility.

The Environment Court is currently considering an application by the Canterbury Cricket Association to develop Hagley Oval as a venue for international cricket. A decision is expected sometime this month, but already the yet-to-be-completed ground has been allocated the opening match in Cricket World Cup 2015, when New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka. The symbolism of this, with Christchurch having missed out on RWC2011 fixtures due to the earthquakes cannot be overstated.

Here's an artist's impression of the proposed ground:

We reckon that this ground would be a wonderful asset to Christchurch, and another strong signal that the Christchurch central city is being reinvigorated. And with a covered rugby stadium being planned in the CBD, the days of multi-use grounds seem to be over for Christchurch. That is not a bad thing. The "temporary" AMI Stadium at Addington is a great place to watch rugby, with all spectators being pretty close to the action. As has been demonstrated in Dunedin, purpose-built football stadia are the way to go.

Unfortunately though, there are some residents of Christchurch who don't love cricket as we do, or as those seeking to develop Hagley Oval do. And as protest groups are apt to do, they have proved adept at dictating the public debate.

To counter that, the Support the new Hagley Oval Facebook page was launched yesterday. It already has 2776 likes (as we type this), more than double that of the Save Hagley Park page. We certainly urge readers to head to Facebook via the link above, and like the page.

We reckon that a redeveloped Hagley Oval will become a wonderful asset for cricket both in Christchurch and nationwide. The ground will have sufficient capacity to host test matches and ODI's, and located so close both to the CBD and to the burgeoning entertainment areas of Riccarton and Addington, its location could not be better. Our regular resting place in Christchurch is less than 30 minutes walk from Hagley Park, so if this redevelopment goes ahead, we will definitely become regular patrons of the ground

Hagley Park already has a rich cricketing tradition, and Christchurch has a unique opportunity to develop a world-class facility right in the middle of the city.Show this project your support.