The Counties Manukau cricket team represents the southern part of the

Auckland Region Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...

, including the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

outer suburbs of

Manurewa Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau, Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The subur ...

Manukau Manukau (), or Manukau Central, is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand, centred on the Manukau City Centre business district. It is located 23 kilometres south of the Auckland Central Business District, west of the Southern Motorway, so ...

and

Papakura Papakura is a southern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council. Papakura is a M� ...

and the surrounding rural areas, and including

Tuakau Tuakau ( mi, Tūākau) is a town in the Waikato region at the foot of Bombay hills, formerly part of the Franklin district until 2010, when it became part of Waikato District in the North Island of New Zealand. The town serves to support local fa ...

in the

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

region. It competes in the

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat t ...

. Its base is in Manurewa, where its home ground is Weymouth Oval. Teams that previously represented the area in the Hawke Cup were Franklin (1957 to 1977) and Counties (1979 to 1994). Counties Manukau began playing in 1996.

History

Franklin and Counties teams

Cricket was played in the region in the late 1850s, and possibly earlier. The Mauku Cricket Club, which still competes at senior level, was established in 1859. There was a Franklin Cricket Association in the 1890s and 1900s, and the Warin Cup was instituted for competition between the region's clubs beginning with the 1911–12 season. The Association lapsed but was revived in 1921. Franklin, based in

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. Th ...

, was a part of the Auckland team's region until 1957, when the Franklin Cricket Association was affiliated with the

New Zealand Cricket Council New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New Z ...

, entitling it to field a team in the

. By this new affiliation Franklin also became a constituent association of the Northern Districts team, which had begun competing in the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

in 1956–57. Franklin competed for the first time in the Hawke Cup in December 1957, and continued doing so until 1977. In 1969-70 Philip Havill became the first Franklin player to represent Northern Districts in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

. Franklin were succeeded by Counties, also based in Pukekohe, who competed in the Hawke Cup from 1979 to 1994. In their first season they were captained by the

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

batsman John Wright. Neither Franklin nor Counties ever won the title.

Counties Manukau

The Counties Manukau Cricket Association was established in 1996. Counties Manukau first challenged for the Hawke Cup in 2011–12. Captained by Luke Williamson, they won the title in the first challenge match of 2017-18 when they beat

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

. They held the title against challenges from

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

and Canterbury Country at Weymouth Oval in Manurewa, before losing the last match of the season to

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

. Counties Manukau and the other five Northern Districts association teams also compete each season in two-day matches for the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl. The winner has the right to challenge for the Hawke Cup. Counties Manukau also compete in the Brian Dunning Cup, the 50-over competition among the six Northern Districts teams.

Clubs

In the Counties Manukau Cricket Association, 12 clubs compete for the Warin Cup (overall champions), the W. H. Taylor Shield (two-day matches), the Duthie Cup (one-day matches) and the Inder-Lynch Trophy (T20 matches): Clevedon, Glenbrook-Maramarua, Karaka, Manukau City, Mauku, Papakura, Pohutukawa Coast, Pukekohe Metro, Tuakau, United, Waiuku and Weymouth.

References

{{Reflist Cricket teams in New Zealand Cricket in Northern Districts Sport in the Auckland Region Cricket clubs established in 1996