City Care has been suspended from its cricket contract with the Dunedin City Council for the next four months.

The council is also aware of the issues with the condition of many of the grounds around town and is working with its new contractor to find a solution.

But it declined to say what it was doing and when a solution would be reached.

Dunedin sporting surfaces have been in the spotlight this year in two codes.

At the start of the winter season, a premier football match between Roslyn-Wakari and Caversham had to be abandoned at Tonga Park due to the lines on the field not marking up with the goalposts.

Upon subsequent inspection it was discovered other grounds had incorrect markings.

Last month, the council suspended City Care from preparing pitches around the southern part of the city after they were found to be sub-standard.

On Sunday, after his side lost to Canterbury United 2-0, Southern United coach Paul O'Reilly hit out at the standard of the pitch at Sunnyvale and also at other grounds around the city.

O'Reilly said the pitch at Sunnyvale was genuinely an absolute embarrassment and disgrace and, in general, the grounds around town were shocking.

O'Reilly did not want to use the state of the pitch as an excuse for why his team lost but said playing on a poor ground was not the most motivating factor in playing for Southern United.

Dunedin City Council manager operations parks and recreation Jendi Paterson said the council was striving to reach a solution to issues with City Care.

``We will continue to work with City Care to ensure they are providing the best sporting facilities possible for the city,'' she said.

She confirmed there were financial penalties in place in the contract if City Care did not reach agreed targets but declined to say whether any penalties had been imposed on the contractor.

City Care was pulled from the preparation of cricket pitches at the end of last month, after concern had been raised over the state of the pitches, which were dangerous to bat on.

The company had been suspended from operating on the pitches by the council for four months, which would be through to the end of the 2017-18 season. Delta was now preparing the pitches.

Paterson declined to say whether the council had a date when it would cease talking with City Care over the ground issues.

City Care is just one year into a five-year contract for managing the grounds. The council split the city into two with Delta managing the northern half of the city's fields and City Care managing the southern part of the city.

A City Care spokeswoman declined to comment when contacted yesterday.