New Zealand’s top Year 7 and Year 8 school cricket teams are gearing up for a hard fought national finals tournament in Palmerston North starting tomorrow.
The NZC Cup (boys) and NZC Shield (girls) tournaments see the top four teams in each competition vying for top honours over two days of cricket.
The national primary school competitions are now in their 13th year and have been a major part of New Zealand’s Cricket’s development programme since their inception in 2000.
The competitions provide exciting opportunities for primary and intermediate schools to enter their Year 7 and 8 first elevens into these prestigious contests.
This year 352 schools entered the competitions, 236 in the NZC Cup and 116 in the NZC Shield. The competition is played across the school year, with schools competing within their Major Cricket Association to determine regional winners.
The top school from the association with the most entries automatically qualifies for the national finals. In both the NZC Cup and NZC Shield this year that honour went to the winners from Canterbury. Their runners-up and the other five association winners then played off against their adjacent associations to decide the other three finalists in each contest.
The four finalists in each of the competitions meet in Palmerston North on November 28-29 at Manawaroa Park and Ongley Park. There are two rounds of 20-over action is played on the first day of the competition with the final round on the morning of the second day.
The national tournament will be officially opened at Manawaroa Park, Palmerston North on Wednesday, December 28 at 12.45pm, with the first day’s matches starting at 1.15pm.
