The company was awarded the contract to prepare the cricket grounds in the southern section of the city this year but is failing to deliver, according to the clubs.
Green Island coach Alun Kennedy described the pitch at Brooklands Park on the weekend as ''dangerous'' and he was concerned some of the surfaces were not being adequately prepared.
His view will not come as a shock to the local cricket community, which has been grumbling about the situation since the season got under way. The consistent theme is the outfields are too long and the pitches are under-prepared.
But the situation reached a head on Saturday when Green Island and Taieri fronted for a game at Brooklands Park and discovered a pitch which did not look like it had been mowed.
Dunedin City Council acting group manager parks and recreation Tom Dyer said City Care has accepted it fell short of the require standard on that occasion.
''The state of Brooklands wasn't ideal and we've started to address that with City Care already,'' Dyer said.
''They've certainly acknowledged that is wasn't within specification and that is something they will have to tidy up.''
However, Dyer pointed out this was the first time the weekly reports it receives from the Dunedin Cricket Association had highlighted a major problem.
''On the whole we are not seeing a trend or a theme. But [people] can certainly expect to see a better standard [in the future]. We'll certainly be putting pressure on City Care to deliver.
''We'll be going back to them to remind them what the specification is and what it is we are paying them to deliver.''
Dunedin Cricket Association operations manager Tim O'Sullivan said he had been aware ''that the contract change may have caused some differences at grounds''.
''But as far as we are concerned, it is not consistently a problem. The week before this there was absolutely no issues,'' O'Sullivan said.
''It is a shame if it [the Brooklands pitch] was dangerous. But our reports will hopefully bring that out and the council will work that through with the contractors. We wouldn't expect that to happen again.''
Kennedy, who played more than 100 games for Green Island and has coached the senior team for the past five years, raised the issue with the Otago Daily Times following his side's match against Taieri at Brooklands Park on the weekend.
''The wickets have been awful - substandard,'' he said.
''I was hoping with the shared role it would improve. But they are terrible. The wickets have gone right back in my opinion.''
The contract to prepare the city's cricket grounds was split between Delta and City Care this year, and the impression which is emerging is one provider is doing a fair job, while the other is not up to the same standard.
Carisbrook-Dunedin club captain and senior coach Martin Whangapirita felt the weather made it tough for the contractors but said the grass lengths had been long.
''It is not much worse but it is worse,'' Whangapirita said.
''At the moment is just seems like the pitches are not being cut or rolled properly.
''Tonga Park and probably Sunnyvale aren't as good as they have been.''
Taieri captain Toby Batchelor said they had played at Bishopscourt once and the pitch was good. But the surfaces in the south of the city had not been as well prepared.
''Our first game was at Tonga Park on an artificial and we didn't even have an inner circle marked. We played at Memorial and the boundaries were like 35m, so we had to mark those out ourselves as well.''
Kaikorai captain Geordie Scott and Albion captain Tim Ford were more measured.
They felt the wickets were on par or perhaps even better than in previous years but shared concerns about the length of the outfield, while North East Valley club captain Simon Murley felt the length of outfield had always been a problem.
''If they want Otago to produce more first-class cricketers then they have to look at how the pitches and the outfields are being prepared,'' Murley said.
