Taranaki cricket team represents the

Taranaki Region 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

. Taranaki as a representative team played as early as 1877.

First-class matches

Between 1883 and 1898 Taranaki played eight matches that are now considered first-class. They won one match, lost six and drew one.

1882–83

* At

Auckland Domain The Auckland Domain, also known as Pukekawa / Auckland Domain, is a large park in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the oldest park in the city, and at is one of the largest. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park land is the remains o ...

in March 1883,

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 ...

241 defeated Taranaki 63 and 55 by an innings and 123 runs. For Auckland William Lankham bowled unchanged throughout the match to take 13 for 35 (7 for 13 and 6 for 22). Eight of the Taranaki players were playing their first first-class match.

1891–92

* In January 1892 Taranaki travelled to

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 * ...

, near Napier, to play

Hawke's Bay 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 ...

at Farndon Park. The match was all over in one day. Taranaki made 70 and 39, and Hawke's Bay, scoring 103 and 7 for no wicket, won by ten wickets. Hawke's Bay's Arthur Gore took 2 for 21 and 6 for 26 and made the highest score of the match, 33 not out. For Taranaki,

Alfred Bayly Alfred Bayly (20 May 1866 – 14 December 1907) was a New Zealand rugby union player and administrator, and cricketer. Early life and family Born in Waitara on 20 May 1866, Bayly was the son of Thomas Bayly and Ann Bayly (née Rundle). ...

took 6 for 54; he was one of seven Taranaki players making their first-class debuts. * Three months later, in April, the two teams played a return match at

Bayly Park Bayly Park was a cricket ground in Hāwera, Taranaki, New Zealand. First-class cricket was first played there in 1892 when Taranaki played Hawke's Bay. A further first-class match came in 1895 when Taranaki played the touring Fijians, with anot ...

in Hawera. Although Hawke's Bay made only 128 in their first innings, they won by an innings and 64 runs, dismissing Taranaki for 35 and 29. For Hawke's Bay, Charles Smith, bowling unchanged, took 13 for 33 (7 for 20 and 6 for 13).

1894–95

* In the last match of their tour of New Zealand in 1894–95,

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

played Taranaki at Bayly Park in February 1895. Taranaki made 91 and 135, and Fiji made 99 and 129 for 8 to win by two wickets. Wilikonisoni Tuivanuavou took 5 for 25 and 5 for 37 (all ten victims were bowled) for Fiji, while for Taranaki William Mills took 6 for 35 and 6 for 55 on his first-class debut. * In April 1895 Taranaki visited Hawke's Bay again, this time to play 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 ...

. However, rain halted play after Hawke's Bay had scored 144 for no wicket.

1896–97

* Taranaki won for the only time in March 1897, when they beat Hawke's Bay by an innings and 42 runs at Bayly Park. They scored 246,

William Crawshaw William Crawshaw (1861 – 11 February 1938) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Canterbury, Otago, Taranaki and Wellington between 1877 and 1898. Crawshaw moved around New Zealand in his work for the Bank of N ...

(106) and

Percy Pratt Percy Mackenzie Pratt (12 January 1874 – 20 July 1961) was a cricketer who played five matches of first-class cricket for Taranaki cricket team, Taranaki from 1895 to 1898. His highest score was 85, in Taranaki's only first-class victory, agai ...

(85) adding 114 for the third wicket. Taranaki then dismissed Hawke's Bay for 104 and 100,

Bernard McCarthy Bernard McCarthy (24 July 1874 – 7 July 1948) was a New Zealand cricketer, lawyer and papal knight. Life and work After attending St. Patrick's College, Wellington, McCarthy moved to Hāwera, where he qualified as a lawyer and in 1903 founded ...

taking seven wickets.

1897–98

* In late December 1897, Taranaki lost to Hawke's Bay by an innings and 38 runs at Napier Recreation Ground. Hawke's Bay made 334 then dismissed Taranaki for 124 and 172. Bernard McCarthy was Taranaki's most successful bowler again, taking 5 for 109, as well as top-scoring in each innings with 27 and 52. For Hawke's Bay,

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 ...

scored 103, and

Harry Fannin Henry Albert Fannin (25 September 1870 – 20 January 1959) was a cricketer who played 11 matches of first-class cricket for Hawke's Bay between 1892 and 1899. A fast bowler, Fannin had an outstanding season in 1897-98 when he took 22 wickets in ...

took 8 for 49 and 3 for 42. * A few days later, in the new year,

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. ...

visited Bayly Park. Canterbury made 260, then dismissed Taranaki for 108 and 109, Dan Reese taking 5 for 52 and 6 for 43, to win by an innings and 43 runs. Taranaki's 13 innings totals (63, 55, 70, 39, 35, 29, 91, 135, 246, 124, 172, 108, 109) add up to 1276 runs for 130 wickets, an average of 9.81 runs per wicket. Their opponents scored 1649 runs for 88 wickets, an average of 18.73.

South Taranaki and North Taranaki

In the early 1900s Taranaki cricket split into South Taranaki (centred in Hawera) and North Taranaki (centred in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

). The two teams competed separately in the

from 1910–11 to 1922–23. Neither won the title.

Current status

Taranaki reunited in the mid-1920s, and since 1926–27 they have competed in the

. In their first challenge match Taranaki beat Wanganui, Charles Clark taking 13 wickets. They thus gained the title, which they held until Wanganui defeated them in the next season. Taranaki have held the title several times since, most recently in 2007. The Taranaki Cricket Association is based in

. The Association forms part of 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 ...

, which competes in first-class,

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

and

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

domestic cricket competitions. Since the 1920s Taranaki have played most of their home matches at

Pukekura Park Pukekura Park is a Garden of National Significance, covering 52 hectares near the heart of New Plymouth, Taranaki in New Zealand. History The gala opening of New Plymouth's 15 hectare Recreation Ground was held on 29 May 1876. During the day th ...

in New Plymouth, which is also regularly used by Central Districts.

References

External links

Taranaki Cricket Association
at CricketArchive {{New Zealand first-class cricket clubs Cricket teams in New Zealand Cricket in Central Districts Sport in Taranaki Former senior cricket clubs in New Zealand