If you are a batsman, then look away now.
New University Oval groundsman Mike Davies has plans to make life a little tougher for you lot this season.
The 41-year-old has replaced the long-serving Tom Tamati, who resigned from the role in May.
Davies had his first day in the job on Monday and is rather happy with his new "office'' which has been transformed by the embankment upgrade.
He will be responsible for ensuring the playing surface is up to international standard. But it is the wicket block which will claim most of his attention and he has a few thoughts about what sort of pitch he would like to produce.
"I'll be trying to get wickets to do a bit and then to deteriorate to try and get games of cricket that can be dominated by ball and bat rather than longer-form cricket which ends up with a team chasing over 400 runs,'' Davies said.
To his way of thinking, a surface which offers the batsmen too much comfort on day three or four of a first-class game is a poor wicket.
Producing the perfect pitch is not that easy, of course. The University Oval wicket block has a Kakanui clay base and it tends to hold together better than some of the other surfaces around the country.
"Kakanui clay gets that dense that it is very hard to crack,'' Davies said.
"We don't get the 30deg days or the nor'westers to be able to make things deteriorate, so we have to look at other techniques be that grass cover or moisture content and all those kind of things.
"But, believe me, it is a fine line between a green monster and one that blows apart.''
Davies hails from Canterbury and has a trade certificate in sports turf and horticulture.
Most of his work experience has been on golf courses. He began work at the Pakuranga Country Club. He had a year in Vietnam before returning to Pakuranga where he was the superintendent for six years.
He followed that with an eight-year stint at the Timaru Golf Club and, when South Canterbury Cricket was trying to get Aorangi Oval up to scratch, he took on the responsibility as a sideline.
Once he got a taste of preparing cricket wickets, he very quickly decided that was the direction he wanted to head.
He moved to Invercargill last year and worked for the Southland Cricket Association where he was charged with preparing the playing surface at Queens Park.
"It went really well and I got more experience working with Kakanui clay which they have here.''
"It is about getting the best out of it on a weekly basis, be it for provincial cricketers or for school kids. I'm about producing every wicket to the best of my ability every week ... the best possible no matter who is playing on it''
Davies and wife Christina Cahill are renting a home in Wakari while they get a feel for Dunedin. The couple are expecting their first child in three weeks. Davies has a daughter - Georgia Davies (8) - from a previous relationship.
