Former test umpire Steve Dunne was twice appointed to officiate in a test at Carisbrook but destiny intervened.
The only time he got to stand out in the middle of the 'Brook in his white overcoat was to examine the gloomy sky.
Dunne umpired in 39 tests and 100 one-day internationals and enjoyed a marvellous career crammed with highlights. But he is still annoyed rain robbed him of the opportunity to appear in a test in his home town.
The 1989 test against Pakistan was to be Dunne's debut but poor weather meant the game was abandoned without a ball bowled. Nine years later, Dunne, in a test against India, suffered the same fate.
Between times, he was the TV umpire when New Zealand played Sri Lanka in 1995 and 1997. But it was not the same.
"The test against Pakistan was to be my first test and, as you can imagine, I was pretty nervous going out there with the likes of Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan," Dunne told the Otago Daily Times.
"So I wasn't actually too disappointed when the first day was rained off. We actually went to the Mornington pub and sat up there and boozed most of the afternoon, which is an absolute no-no during a test.
"It never started, and about day four we ended up playing a one-dayer. Richard Hadlee, at that stage, was really going for numbers and test wickets. He was really peeved off the test wasn't played, even starting on day four, because he wanted test wickets and the track was real up and down."
Dunne's earliest memory of the venue was, as an 11-year-old, watching England's pace duo of Frank Tyson and Brian Statham mince the New Zealand batting line up in 1955.
"My brother and I got alongside Murray Chapple, who opened the batting for New Zealand that day.
"Both of us were budding fast bowlers and were rapt with how quick the Poms bowled. My brother asked Murray how quick they had bowled and Murray Chapple said he never saw the ball until the keeper threw it back."
Dunne matured into a useful left-arm medium pacer and played five first-class matches for Otago in the late 1960s, including two games at his beloved Carisbrook.
"It will be so sad to see it go, because there is so much wonderful history there. It would be nice if they can retain some sort of park there - like a village green."
Name: Steve Dunne.
Role: Cricket umpire.
Favourite Carisbrook memory: Watching England fast bowlers Frank Tyson and John Statham tear through the New Zealand batting line up in 1955.
