The trees which line Logan Park Dr were scheduled for removal as part of the redevelopment of Logan Park. But when that project was deferred by the Dunedin City Council, so was the removal of the trees.
Last year the Otago Cricket Association asked the council to bring their removal forward because the shadows the trees cast had caused a disruption to first-class games and were likely to cause further problems.
With the Black Caps hosting England at the venue next month, both the council and Otago cricket are keen to avoid a repeat of the problem which resulted in the final day of a Plunket Shield match between Otago and Canterbury last summer being cut short.
DCC parks manager Lisa Wheeler said the council had hoped the removal of the trees would be done on a cost-neutral basis and that the value of the firewood would be enough incentive for a contractor to come forward.
Three contractors bid for the job but all three bids carried an expectation of further remuneration.
''Council, in their budget, have money to do the work but it has been pushed out to 2017-2018,'' Wheeler said.
''It was part of a whole lot of other project work that got pushed out to try to minimise the impact on the rates spend. All of the works for Logan Park have been pushed out.''
However, with the eyes of the world on Dunedin for the first test, the council is determined to find an alternative solution.
''We've just finished getting some shading modelling done. What that has done is given us an indication of where the shading comes from at different times.
''The indication is by 6 o'clock the shade is just about to touch the pitch in the middle. By 7 o'clock basically three-quarters of the whole Oval is in shade.
''We have made a commitment to try to alleviate some of the shading by March. Obviously, we're not able to take down all the trees but we can see if there were some we could try to remove to create some relief.''
Otago Cricket Association chief executive Ross Dykes is very concerned the shadows will cause a disruption if nothing is done.
''I suspect there will be a problem because we've got a photograph here from the South African test [in March] which shows the shadows on the pitch,'' he said.
''And unfortunately we know that test match teams don't bowl their 90 overs in six hours so we are probably going to be going on to a point where the shadows could have an impact.
''Let's hope there is a quick and speedy solution for this.''
