A contractor's failure to deliver which forced the closure of cricket pitches on the Taieri until next year has disappointed club presidents.
Seven cricket pitches City Care is contracted to prepare have been declared substandard.
The grass wickets, including Brooklands Park in Mosgiel and the No1 wicket at Sunnyvale, have been ruled out of play until they can be brought up to the required standard.
Taieri Cricket Club president Andrew Sutton said the club was ''gutted'' by the closure at Brooklands Park.
''It's the nicest place in Otago to watch and play cricket and it seems such a waste. We are very disappointed.''
The Dunedin City Council had done the right thing in closing the wicket, he said.
''The wickets are dry as hell and it would have got worse.''
Green Island Cricket Club president John Moyle agreed.
[The wickets] weren't up to scratch and they did something about it.''
The club believed the contractors had failed to provide enough watering and rolling of the wicket at Sunnyvale, Mr Moyle said.
Council acting group manager of parks and recreation Richard Saunders said City Care had failed to deliver suitable surfaces.
''Our contractors have not got those pitches up to the appropriate standard, which is very disappointing,'' Mr Saunders said.
All games scheduled at those venues were being moved to other grounds.
The council was reviewing its contract with City Care.
''We are going through a contract process with [City Care] at the moment so I won't comment ... until that process is finished,'' Mr Saunders said.
''But we have taken the step of bringing in Delta to have a look at those pitches.''
Early last year, City Care was awarded the contract to prepare cricket grounds in the southern part of the city and Delta won the contract in the north.
A spokeswoman for Christchurch-based City Care said the company was committed to ensuring pitches were prepared to contract specifications.
