One of the world’s most iconic cricket grounds is in serious danger of losing the right to host the sport because of the state of its facilities.

New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park, named in 2007 as one of the six great cricket grounds by British cricket authority Wisden, has been the subject of numerous complaints from domestic sides about the state of its changing and practice facilities.

The ground has hosted international teams since the beginning of last century, including England, Australia and the West Indies, while it has also hosted a Cricket World Cup match in 1992.

The New Zealand Cricket Players Association has also voiced its concerns about the state of the facilities, particularly about the earthquake-prone Bellringer Pavilion, where the floors are sinking and the capacity is restricted to just 35 people because of its poor seismic strength.

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New Zealand Cricket officials are due in New Plymouth on June 29 to meet representatives from the Taranaki Cricket Association and inspect the practice facilities and pavilion.

If they are not satisfied, they could take Pukekura Park off the list of venues for next season’s domestic cricket matches.

New Central Districts chief executive Lance Hamilton met with Taranaki Cricket officials last week in New Plymouth and general manager Ryan Evans confirmed they had discussed the state of the ground’s facilities.

Evans played down the threat of losing domestic cricket but acknowledged the players’ association had “made a bit of noise” about the state of the facilities.

“It needs to be sorted and obviously the sooner, the better,” he said.

New Plymouth District Council’s strategy and operations committee is due to meet on Tuesday to adopt a discussion document – Our Pukekura Park, Guiding the next chapter.

Included in the document are plans to build a new community pavilion which would cater for first class and category A cricketers.

However, the council has done no costings on the plan and if a decision were made to build the pavilion, it would not be included in any budgets until the adoption of the next long-term plan in the middle of 2024.

That could mean domestic cricket not being played at Pukekura Park for the next three years.

A New Plymouth District Council spokesperson said they were working closely with New Zealand Cricket and Central Districts on the issues.

“We look forward to the public having their say regarding potential changes to Pukekura Park, including an upgrade of the Bellringer Pavilion, if approved by the strategy and operations committee.”

Former Central Districts and New Zealand representative Alistar Jordan, who has been involved in Taranaki Cricket as a player, coach and selector for more than 50 years, was dismayed at the lack of action to upgrade facilities at the park.

“There are always complaints coming back about them now, which is really sad,” he said.

“Everyone has loved playing cricket here, it didn’t matter what team it was, all the overseas teams, and it has simply been left with no real investment in it.”

Jordan also did not agree with the plans to build the proposed pavilion above the maintenance shed.

Instead, he wants it built in the left hand eastern corner, with a walkway to parking spaces near the proposed multi-sports hub set to be built at the New Plymouth racecourse.

“That’s the most logical place to put it, so it’s tied into what is happening up at the racecourse,” he said.

Jordan was also critical of the practice facilities, which he said were not being utilised by Taranaki players because they were not made available.