Groundsman Tom Tamati resigned on Wednesday morning and said he was "pretty gutted'' about it.
With Dunedin Venues Management Limited taking over the contract from Delta to prepare the venue's playing surface, Tamati was unclear where that left him.
"DVML weren't very forthcoming about what was going to happen and whether me and my guys were going to keep our jobs or not,'' Tamati said.
"So I decided I needed to look after No1 and I decided to take it in my own hands and resigned and went for another job.''
Tamati successfully applied for a role with City Care as the turf team manager.
"I've been there nine seasons and I'm pretty gutted to be fair,'' Tamati said when asked how he felt about leaving a job he loved for another.
"It is not the way I wanted to leave.''
The contract changes hands in five weeks and Tamati did not want to leave a decision until the last minute.
"I could have stayed and waited and then they might have come up to me and said I don't have a job. I thought to myself, ‘stuff it, I've got to make sure I've still got a pay packet coming in'.''
He is happy with his new role which he described as a "step in the right direction''.
He also felt with the restructuring which has taken place at the Otago Cricket Association it was a good time to move on.
"My personal opinion is it has become more of a business rather than a community. It had a real good family feel and we had a good thing going there for the last seven or eight years.''
Tamati has prepared the pitch for all seven tests at the University Oval.
During his stint the venue also hosted four one-day internationals, three World Cup games and many, many domestic games.
His new role will involve overseeing the preparation of the city's green spaces in the southern section of the city.
"That is pretty much all I know at the moment. I had the interview on Wednesday and got offered the job [on Friday].''
Select Recruitment advertised for a Head of Cricket Services to join the team at DVML in Saturday's Otago Daily Times.
