A near half-a-million dollar investment designed to turn Canberra into a regular home for elite sport left Manuka Oval briefly resembling a sandpit.
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But head curator Brad Van Dam has promised it will be in the "best possible condition" for Canberra's maiden Test match, slated for January 2019 against Sri Lanka.
The ACT government has spent $452,445 to resurface Manuka Oval for the second time in four years as part of a plan to secure Big Bash League matches and World Twenty20 fixtures.
The Manuka Oval turf has been ripped up and resurfaced with a hefty price tag designed to ensure Canberra becomes a regular home for top level cricket and Australian rules.
The project was originally tipped to cost $250,000 but that figure fell well short of the mark for the 18-day operation that had trucks dig up and replace the surface.
"They took off about 50 to 60 millimetres of the surface to get rid of all the old dead matter from all the last four years of sport, mainly all the old rye grass we put in during the winter months for the AFL," Van Dam said.
"We moved all that dead grass matter, placed down new sand, what they'd taken off they had replaced, and then put down new turf on top.
"It's an insurance policy that the ground will be draining and in the best possible condition for the upcoming Test match next season.
"We had a plan anyway for it to be [resurfaced after] five to seven years but with the Test match booked in for next year being the fifth year, and the Twenty20 World Cup being in the seventh year - hopefully we get games, which we should after the last World Cup we had here - this minimises any issue that could arise.
"It would be up the usual standard of Manuka. It's definitely not going to be worse, it's only going to be as good or better."
The sand-based couch grass sports turf was established at Manuka Oval in November 2013, meaning the 41 elite AFL and cricket fixtures played on it since effectively add up to $11,035 per game based on surfacing costs.
The venue has hosted 12 AFL games, four AFL pre-season fixtures and one AFL Women's clash thanks to a long-term agreement with the Greater Western Sydney Giants since the turf was established.
Manuka Oval has also housed six men's one-day international cricket matches, five women's internationals, one Big Bash League decider, four Prime Minister's XI games and eight Women's National Cricket League contests since November 2013.
But the cost per event drops significantly once local sports are factored in.
An ACT government spokesman says Venues Canberra originally planned replace the turf in 2019 given the effective lifespan of sports turf is generally five years.
But the ACT government leapt at the opportunity to replace the surface ahead of next summer's historic Test and "possible summer content in future years".
Van Dam says "five to seven years" has been pencilled in as the due date for the next resurfacing but that could change depending on Canberra's place in the elite cricket landscape.
Manuka Oval has an established pitch perfectly suited for Twenty20 cricket, while Cricket ACT's new $6 million facility at Phillip Oval looms as a trump card for a Canberra Big Bash bid.
Van Dam hopes to be handed the Phillip Oval surface in April, which he says will provide "a fallback" for ACT Comets and Meteors matches.
The surface will be ready to host the Sydney Thunder's Big Bash League fixture against the Melbourne Renegades on January 24, soon followed by the Prime Minister's XI's clash with England on February 2.
