It hasn't taken Sir Richard Hadlee long to get his head around the new Sports Centre at Hagley Park that was named after him, with the NZ cricket legend already giving tours of the place.
Hadlee took 1News for an inside look at the new facility in Christchurch ahead of its official opening on Tuesday afternoon.
Hadlee said it was "far bigger" than he had imagined it would be.
"Looking at plans and visuals, you get a perspective but until you're inside, you really appreciate the detail into it," Hadlee said.
"Magnificent architectural design - it's been fantastically laid-out and this facility surprised a lot of people including myself."
The centre is located on the site of the old Hagley Horticultural Hall in the middle of South Hagley Park.
The old hall was used by Canterbury Cricket until 1989 when the Canterbury Horticultural Society took it over, but when it went up for sale in 2017, it was bought back for cricket purposes and demolished for the new Sir Richard Hadlee Sports Centre.
"The old facility, the old indoor cricket centre back in the 60s and 70s had a three-metre run up," Hadlee recalled.
"You'd kick off the wall - high impact stuff with concrete so hard on the legs - it was right for the time but things have moved on."
It's hoped the new $4.75 million facility will benefit the wider community and not just cricket.
"This is state of the art," Hadlee said with a grin.
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