The Hawke's Bay cricket team, representing the

Hawke's Bay region Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

of New Zealand, played

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 ...

between 1883–84 and 1920–21, and competed 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 the 1914–15 and 1920–21 seasons. The side has continued to appear in minor cricket and now 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 ...

competition.

First-class history

In their first match at first-class level, against

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

at the

Basin Reserve The Basin Reserve (commonly known as "The Basin") is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand. It has been used for Test matches, and is the main home ground for the Wellington Firebirds first-class team. The Basin Reserve is the only cricke ...

in February 1884, Hawke's Bay were dismissed for just 32 in their second innings thanks to

Joseph Firth Joseph "Pentland" Firth (25 March 1859 – 13 April 1931) was a New Zealand educationalist and teacher. He was the headmaster of Wellington College from 1892 to 1920. He was born and died in Wellington. Early life and family Born in Wellingto ...

's remarkable return of 8 for 13 from 13 four-ball overs. In their next match, in 1884–85, they beat Wellington at

Napier Recreation Ground Napier Recreation Ground was a cricket ground in Napier, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. It was located on Carlyle Street, opposite Chaucer Street. The ground first held a first-class match when Hawke's Bay played Wellington in 1884. Hawke's Bay wou ...

by eight wickets. They lost their next three matches, all against Wellington, before trouncing

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 ...

in two matches in 1891–92. In the first of these matches they dismissed Taranaki for 70 and 39 and the game was over in one day. In the second match Hawke's Bay made 128 then dismissed Taranaki for 35 and 29. Hawke's Bay's matches remained low-scoring affairs. They did not reach a total of 200 until their 17th match in 1895–96, when they made 207 against Wellington in a drawn match. Their first individual century came in 1897–98, when

Hugh Lusk Hugh Hart Lusk (1837 – 8 September 1926) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the Auckland Region in New Zealand. A barrister and solicitor, he represented the Franklin electorate from 18 January 1876 to 16 April 1878, when he resi ...

made 119 against

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. However, low scores were the norm in New Zealand at the time: in the eight first-class matches in 1897–98, only two centuries were scored, Lusk's and one by another Hawke's Bay batsman,

Jack Wolstenholme John Wolstenholme (1851 – 5 February 1914) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Hawke's Bay from 1887 to 1898. Life and career Wolstenholme was born in Lancashire. He became a school teacher, and married Mary Anne Leach in Darwen ...

. Hawke's Bay played 53 first-class matches, for 11 wins, 35 losses and seven draws. Twenty-four of those matches were against their neighbours, Wellington; Hawke's Bay won six of these and lost 14. They lost both their Plunket Shield matches (against Canterbury in 1914–15 and

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 ...

in 1920–21) by an innings.

Leading players

Hugh Lusk made three of Hawke's Bay's five centuries. He was by far Hawke's Bay's outstanding batsman: in 28 matches he scored 1395 runs at an average of 28.46, and also took 40 wickets at 22.85, as well as captaining the side in most of his matches and representing

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The highest score for Hawke's Bay was 134 against Wellington in 1914–15 by

Jack Board John Henry Board (23 February 1867 – 15 April 1924) was an English cricketer who played in six Tests from 1899 to 1906. Jack Board was a wicketkeeper and a right-handed batsman who started out as a tail-ender but developed into a useful play ...

, the English Test player who coached in Hawke's Bay for several seasons before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The best innings bowling figures were 9 for 47 by

Tom Dent Thomas Emmett Dent (born January 11, 1950) is an American politician who serves as a member of the Washington House of Representatives representing the 13th Legislative District. He was elected in 2014 to the House seat vacated by Judy Warnick ...

against Wellington in 1900–01, and the best match figures were 13 for 33 (7 for 20 and 6 for 13) by Charles Smith in the second match against Taranaki in 1891–92.

Since 1920–21

Along with

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 ...

, Hawke's Bay lost their first-class status after the 1920–21 season, leaving just four first-class teams in New Zealand:

, Canterbury, Otago and

. In reorganising domestic first-class cricket, 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 ...

chose only those teams that could afford to travel to take part in an annual

round robin Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

tournament for the

. Hawke's Bay have won the Hawke Cup 11 times. Their first victory was in 1946–47, and their most recent in 2020–21. In the 1920s Hawke's Bay played several overseas teams in non-first-class matches, including

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the MCC,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and the

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground ...

, all at Nelson Park. In 1950–51 the

Central Districts cricket team The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

began competing at first-class level in the Plunket Shield. The Hawke's Bay Cricket Association is one of Central Districts' constituent associations.

Grounds

Hawke's Bay played first-class matches on the following four home grounds: *

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

, Napier * Farndon Park,

Clive Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include: People Given name * Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player * Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister * ...

* Nelson Cricket Ground,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Nelson Park, Napier Nelson Park is a cricket ground in Napier, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. It is situated in Napier South, about 600 metres south-west of the Napier CBD, and about 200 metres north-west of Napier's main sports stadium, McLean Park. Establishment A sy ...

As well as Nelson Cricket Ground and Nelson Park, Hawke's Bay has also used the following grounds for Hawke Cup matches: *

McLean Park McLean Park is a sports ground in Napier, New Zealand. The two main sports played at the ground are cricket and rugby union. It is one of the largest cricket grounds in New Zealand. McLean Park is a sports ground of international standards w ...

, Napier * Cornwall Park, Hastings * Anderson Park,

Havelock North Havelock North ( mi, Te Hemo-a-Te Atonga) is a town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, situated less than 2 km south-east of the city of Hastings. It was a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of local ...

* Forest Gate Domain, Ongaonga McLean Park has also been a regular home ground for

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

since 1951–52, and has been used as a

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), ...

ground since 1978–79. Nelson Park has also been used by Central Districts since 1985–86.

Notes

References

External links

First-class matches played by Hawke's Bay

Hawke's Bay Cricket Association website
{{New Zealand first-class cricket clubs 1852 establishments in New Zealand Cricket teams in New Zealand Cricket in Central Districts Sport in the Hawke's Bay Region Former senior cricket clubs in New Zealand Cricket clubs established in 1852