The agreement to help fund a new scoreboard, subject to staff assessing its suitability, at yesterday's annual plan deliberations comes after Otago Cricket chief executive Mike Coggan told councillors the current 17-year-old scoreboard had issues with malfunctioning.
"It does not meet New Zealand Cricket or Otago Cricket standards to operate at either domestic or international cricket matches,'' he said during hearings last week.
Otago Cricket committed to raising at least $20,000 towards the total cost of a new one, which was expected to come to between $103,000 and $105,000.
Cr Neville Peat supported the council helping fund a new one, saying he agreed with Mr Coggan's assessment the current scoreboard, which was previously used at Carisbrook, was an embarrassment.
"We will hopefully have, through this resolution, a scoreboard that we can be proud of.''
Cr John Bezett, who put forward the proposal to fund the scoreboard, said the council should provide the funding now, to take advantage of an opportunity to buy a second-hand one, which would bring considerable savings over buying new.
"This is an opportunity that may not come up again.''
Cr Mike Lord said the scoreboard was a council-owned asset, which meant it had a responsibility to keep it up to standard.
Cr Andrew Whiley highlighted the fact the scoreboard would be a "multipurpose''asset. Otago Cricket had indicated it would also be used for club rugby.
"I see it as a great asset and I congratulate Otago Cricket for actually bringing [the] proposal to the table.''
In response to questioning, parks and recreation group manager Richard Saunders said there was no indication from New Zealand Cricket that having a new scoreboard would affect what games were hosted at the ground over the next two seasons.
However, it was clear the scoreboard had aged to the point where it no longer met the requirements for international cricket.
