CRICKET: Putting on international matches mammoth task | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

A photograph of a floodlit McLean Park, commemorating its inaugural day-nighter against Zimbabwe in February 3, 1996, hangs prominently on the wall of Blair Furlong's office.

"It was an absolute shambles just because there were too many people there," Furlong tells SportToday with a sigh.

"We used to run these games from the seat of our pants but now they are so well organised. It's a multi-tasking thing with New Zealand Cricket," he reveals, involving myriad task masters such as security officers, ushers, gatekeepers and his loyal Central Districts Cricket staff.

While fans have a blast at international matches few go away comprehending what goes into the work leading into the game and the mammoth clean-up operation well into the night and a lion's share of the next day.

"After the game the TV crew will come up, join my staff and the helpers on the ground and we always have a beer after the game." He says it is this ritual he'll miss most.

The evolution of McLean Park during his reign is his biggest highlight. He credits Basil Netten, former chairman of Central Districts Cricket, for establishing McLean Park as the home of the scattered cricket region. It's a far cry from the defunct McKenzie Stand that Graeme Lowe Stand eclipsed last August.

"Eventually there'll be bucket seats in the Rodney Green Stand. It's just that the development of the park has been fantastic," he says of the venue, which with its close proximity to the International Date Line makes it the world's most easterly test match ground.

"We've gone from lights with probably 600 lux - and we still played cricket there - to now almost 3000 lux and that's fantastic too."

Preparing "great wickets" has been the domain of a line of dedicated groundsman such as incumbent Phil Stoyanoff, John Olsen and Gary Walklin.

Other highlights for Furlong is winning things and seeing the Stags represent New Zealand.

"There used to be a theory that you had to leave Central Districts to get into the New Zealand team, which is not right.

"A lot of development is coming up in the game. We were successful [Twenty20 HRV Cup winners] and have got into the Champions League this year [in India] - hopefully everything is hunky dory there."

McLean Park, he emphasises, just happens to be where the head office is. That is a tribute to the staff in the eight regions of the district who soldiered on despite lurching through good and bad times over the years.