The temperature for Tuesday is forecast to reach 25C with no rain.

Instead, the Central Stags and Central Hinds cricket teams will be doing their best to extinguish the heat from the Wellington representative teams with their cricketing prowess.

Palmerston North’s Fitzherbert Park is hosting two Super Smash domestic Twenty20 matches on December 27, with the home men’s and women’s teams taking on Wellington Firebirds and Wellington Blaze respectively.

City council sportsfield team leader Andy May was rolling the pitch that will be used for the matches when the Manawatū Guardian visited.

He will be doing some preparation on Christmas Day, but the big workday will be Boxing Day.

Scaffolding for the TV cameras will be erected that day and infrastructure for the corporate tents will be set up. The teams will also be training.

May says he will probably be busier on Boxing Day than on match day.

He says he is in the event industry, so working on Christmas Day and Boxing Day is part of the job.

His biggest preparation worry is the weather and having to put on and take off the covers.

It takes two weeks to prepare the pitch with rolling and mowing each day. Compaction testing is done every couple of days to check the moisture levels.

It will be Central Districts’ third visit to Fitzherbert Park this season. It played a four-day Plunket Shield match and a one-day Ford Trophy match last month.

Wellington won the one-dayer by 50 runs and the Plunket Shield match by 68 runs.

With the Boxing Day races at Awapuni moved to Ōtaki, city council parks and reserves operations manager Dave Evans is hoping Palmy residents looking for a day out will try the cricket instead. With all the preparation the grounds team have put in, he would love to see a big crowd.

During the winter, the seven playing strips that make up the block in the middle were scarified to remove organic material. More clay was added and new grass grown.

May has been a groundsman for 24 years, the past decade for the city council.

He has a team of five and says they get a variety of work at Fitzherbert Park, Central Energy Trust Arena and Victoria Esplanade. They can be preparing grounds for cricket, rugby, football, stockcars and concerts.

Palmerston North hosts many New Zealand age-group cricket tournaments.

The first ball in the Central Hinds v Wellington Blaze match will be bowled at 11am while the Central Stags take on the Wellington Firebirds at 2.40pm.

The women’s match will be shown on Spark Sport and TVNZ 1, while the men’s match will be on Spark Sport.

The Details

What: Central Districts v Wellington double header

When: December 27, 11am

Where: Fitzherbert Park

Tickets: supersmash.co.nz