The local cricket club pulled up stumps a decade ago but the sport is still flourishing in Oturehua thanks to a small band of enthusiasts who keep the pitch in mint condition.
Even though there is no regular competition played on the grounds, volunteers keep the Oturehua Domain pitch so well maintained, the venue is still used for the occasional representative match.
Honorary caretaker Alastair McKnight said visiting cricketers were pleasantly surprised by the standard of the grounds in a "backwater" like Oturehua.
"I hope that when people come here to this ground for the first time they think `What the hell are we doing here in this backwater' and then think `Wow . . . pretty good cricket ground'."
Mr McKnight was president of the Oturehua Cricket Club when it went into recess about ten years ago after struggling to find enough players to field a team.
An approach in 2003 by Otago Country cricket officials to use the pitch prompted the "remnants" of the club to consider whether they wanted to maintain the facility, he said.
"A group of cricket enthusiasts decided we wanted to keep the wicket in use, so we're just doing what we can to keep the sport alive here."
The grounds crew worked under the direction of "technical adviser " Stewart McKnight, who was one of the driving forces behind the original grass wicket, which was installed in the 1960s.
Otago Country Cricket Association chairman Malcolm Jones said Oturehua was a great venue.
"Little places like that can lose their identity once they start losing their facilities and it would have been pretty easy for them to say, once the club folded, that they'd flag keeping the grounds maintained.
"I have to give them credit for the condition of the pitch.
"It's maintained by cricket people who know what they're doing."
An annual fixture between Otago Country and Dunedin Metro was always played at Oturehua and it was an ideal location for other age-group representative matches, he said.
When the Golden Oldies World Cricket Festival was held in Central Otago and Southland last year, attracting 1200 cricketers to the region, the Oturehua pitch was used as one of the venues.
"One of the teams, I think it was from the United Kingdom, said Oturehua was the best pitch they had played on in five years," Mr Jones said.
The Oturehua Club was established in 1927 and had a proud tradition of producing Otago and Central Otago representatives, with current Otago player Warren McSkimming its most illustrious "old boy", Mr McKnight said.
McSkimming, who played for the club as a schoolboy, attained national honours in 1999, as a member of the under-19 New Zealand team.
Mr McKnight said the sport was thriving in Oturehua at primary school level, but there were still insufficient numbers of adult cricketers to reactivate the club.
However, Oturehua managed to field a team every Easter Monday to play the "Ducks and Drakes" invitation side from Timaru.
The clash between the two sides has been a regular fixture at Oturehua for about 60 years.
