Domestic cricket’s 2014-15 Plunket Shield brought to you by Budget Car & Truck Rental begins today with all six Major Associations in action in the next week.
What's coming up
The SKYCITY Northern Knights and Mondiale Auckland Aces meet at Whangarei's Cobham Oval today, while defending champions Canterbury play the Wellington Firebirds at Christchurch's Hagley Oval on Saturday. The Devon Hotel Central Stags and SBS Otago Volts begin their season at Napier's Nelson Park on Sunday.
New Zealand Cricket has commissioned a new logo for the competition, incorporating the competition's history and tradition with a contemporary feel.
There's a new sponsor on board
New Zealand Cricket welcomes Budget Car & Truck Rental as the first commercial partner for this historic competition for many years. The competition will now be known as the 'Plunket Shield brought to you by Budget Car & Truck Rental'.
Ross Morley, National Sales Manager at Budget, said sponsorship of the Plunket Shield was an evolution of the partnership between Budget and New Zealand Cricket. “We’ve worked very closely with NZ Cricket for a long time now, and our sponsorship of the Plunket Shield is a natural next step in continuing to strengthen this valued partnership.”
Pre-season form has been hard to read
All the teams have been busy over the off season, with the Knights among the bright lights of the Champions League T20, a competition that gives, erm, little or no indicator of Plunket Shield form. Afghanistan, Ireland and Scotland have been in the country to play a series of one-day matches against the Major Associations, as well as matches between associations and selection teams - see the full list of results, while Canterbury and the Volts played a weather affected practice match in Rangiora earlier this week.
Stay up to date
All Plunket Shield matches are live scored here at blackcaps.co.nz and on our mobile app. Follow your team on Twitter to get behind the scenes:
Mondiale Auckland Aces - @aucklandcricket / #aces
SKYCITY Northern Knights - @ndcaknights / #knights
Devon Hotel Central Stags - @cdstags / #stags
Wellington Firebirds - @wgtnfirebirds / #birds
Canterbury - @canterburycrick / #cant (#kings for Super Smash matches)
SBS Bank Otago Volts - @otagovolts #volts
We will use the hashtag format of home team v away team, ie Aces v Knights looks like #acesvknights. Get involved!
This is one of New Zealand's oldest sporting competitions
The Plunket Shield is one of New Zealand's oldest sporting competitions. The shield itself was donated by Lord William Lee Plunket, New Zealand's twelfth Governor, in 1907. Canterbury were the controversial first choice to hold the shield, which they promptly lost to Auckland in the first challenge match. Read the New Zealand Cricket Museum's account of the shield's origin and browse the historic photo archive online.
New captains
Three teams enter this year's competition with new captains in place. The experienced Rob Nicol has been installed as Aces captain following his move north from Canterbury and Gareth Hopkins' retirement. At the Stags, Kruger van Wyk has taken over from Kieran Noema-Barnett, while Aaron Redmond leads the Volts in the Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy, with Hamish Rutherford taking the armband for the Super Smash.
Dizzy's record
The Firebirds' Mark Gillespie is four wickets away from overhauling Ewen Chatfield, who heads the list with 474, as Wellington's leading wicket taker across all three formats. Can he do it at Hagley Oval over the weekend? Tune in...
The Firebirds' Mark Gillespie has his eye on several domestic records this season.
You can put your money where your mouth is
We've teamed up with the New Zealand Herald to bring you NZ Cricket Dream Team Tipping, a chance to prove your cricket knowledge and win some sweet prizes every week. There's signed bats and team shirts up for grabs, so get registered and get your picks in!
This week's matches
SKYCITY Northern Knights v Mondiale Auckland Aces #knightsvaces
Thursday 23 October 10.30am
Cobham Oval, Whangarei
Live scoring on blackcaps.co.nz, updates on Radio Sport
Canterbury v Wellington Firebirds #cantvbirds
Saturday 25 October 10.30am
Hagley Oval, Christchurch
Live scoring on blackcaps.co.nz, updates on Radio Sport
Devon Hotel Central Stags v SBS Bank Otago Volts #stagsvvolts
Sunday 26 October 10.30am
Nelson Park, Napier
Live scoring on blackcaps.co.nz, updates on Radio Sport
- Full Plunket Shield schedule
- All Plunket Shield matches are free entry
