The Wellington Firebirds are one of six New Zealand men's first-class cricket teams that make up

New Zealand Cricket 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 ...

. It is based in

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 ...

. It competes 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 ...

first class (4-day) competition,

The Ford Trophy The Ford Trophy is the main domestic List A limited overs cricket competition in New Zealand. Previous sponsor State Insurance did not renew naming rights in 2009, resulting in the competition being renamed the ''New Zealand Cricket one-day com ...

domestic one day competition and the

Men's Super Smash The Men's Super Smash, currently named the Dream11 Super Smash for sponsorship purposes until 2026, is a men's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in New Zealand. Since the 2018–19 season, the competition runs alongside the Women's Super S ...

Twenty20 competition.

Honours

(21) :1923–24, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1935–36, 1949–50, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1989–90, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2019–20 *

(8) :1973–74, 1974–75, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1990–91, 2001–02, 2013–14, 2018–19 *

(4) : 2014–15, 2016–17, 2019–20, 2020–21

Grounds

Home games are usually played 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 ...

ground in Wellington, which is also used by the OBU senior club rugby side during the offseason. Wellington also occasionally use Wellington Regional Stadium for day/night matches, and play first-class games at Karori Park when the Basin Reserve is unavailable.

Current squad

Based on squad for the 2022/23 season. Players in bold have international caps.

Notable players

New Zealand * Matthew Bell * Bob Blair * Graeme Wheeler (Reserve Bank Governor) *

Don Beard Donald Derek Beard (14 January 1920 – 15 July 1982) was a New Zealand cricketer who played in four Tests from 1952 to 1956. Early life and career Don Beard grew up in the country near Palmerston North, cycling 15 miles a day to attend Palmer ...

Ewen Chatfield Ewen John Chatfield (born 3 July 1950) is a former New Zealand cricketer. A medium-pace bowler, though Chatfield played 43 Tests and 114 One Day Internationals for his country, he is also remembered for having been hit in the head by a bal ...

* Richard Collinge *

Jeremy Coney Jeremy Vernon Coney (born 21 June 1952) is a former New Zealand cricketer and current cricket commentator. An all-rounder, between 1974 and 1987 he played 52 Test matches and 88 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for New Zealand, of which he was ...

Martin Crowe Martin David Crowe (22 September 1962 – 3 March 2016) was a New Zealand cricketer, Test and ODI captain as well as a commentator. He played for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1982 and 1995, and is regarded as one of the count ...

* Simon Doull *

Bruce Edgar Bruce Adrian Edgar (born 23 November 1956) is a former cricketer who represented New Zealand in both Test and One Day International (ODI) format. A chartered accountant by profession, Edgar played as a left-handed opening batsman and an occas ...

Grant Elliott Grant David Elliott (born 21 March 1979) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a batting all-rounder, Elliott contributed a man of the match performance to provide entrance to New Zealand's first ever ...

Stephen Fleming Stephen Paul Fleming (born 1 April 1973) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, who is the current head coach of Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. He is considered one of the g ...

* James Franklin * Stephen Gellatly * Evan Gray *

Paul Hitchcock Paul Anthony Hitchcock (born 23 January 1975) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played 14 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for the New Zealand national cricket team. He was born at Whangarei in New Zealand's Nor ...

* Andrew Jones * Richard Jones *

Gavin Larsen Gavin Rolf Larsen (born 27 September 1962) is a former New Zealand cricketer who specialised in the art of economical bowling. He was known playfully by his teammates as "The Postman". He is currently chief selector for the national side. Dom ...

* Ervin McSweeney * Andrew Fletcher * Lawrie Miller * Bruce Murray * Chris Nevin *

Richard Reid Richard Colvin Reid (born 12 August 1973), also known as the "Shoe Bomber", is the perpetrator of the failed shoe bombing attempt on a transatlantic flight in 2001. Born to a father who was a career criminal, Reid converted to Islam as a young ...

Jesse Ryder Jesse Daniel Ryder (born 6 August 1984) is a former international New Zealand cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He is a middle-order batsman for Tests and is an opening batsman in ODIs. Ryder also bowls useful medium-pace. Ryder has ...

* Barry Sinclair * Bruce Taylor *

Eric Tindill Eric William Thomas Tindill (18 December 1910 – 1 August 2010) was a New Zealand sportsman. Tindill held a number of unique records: he was the oldest ever Test cricketer at the time of his death, the only person to play Tests for New Zeala ...

Roger Twose Roger Graham Twose (born 17 April 1968) is an English-born former cricketer, who played 16 Test matches and 87 One Day Internationals for New Zealand in the mid-1990s. In February 2021, Twose was appointed as the director of New Zealand Cri ...

Robert Vance Robert Howard Vance (born 31 March 1955) is a former New Zealand cricketer. He played in four Test matches and eight One Day Internationals for New Zealand. Vance was born into a cricketing family; his father, Bob Vance, was for many years ...

England *

Paul Allott Paul John Walter Allott (born 14 September 1956) is a former English cricketer who played county cricket for Lancashire, Minor Counties cricket for Staffordshire and first-class cricket in New Zealand for Wellington, as well as thirteen Test ma ...

Charlie Shreck Charles Edward Shreck (born 6 January 1978) is a former English professional cricketer who has also played first-class cricket in New Zealand. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler. In the 2008 English cricket season, ...

Graham Napier Graham Richard Napier (born 6 January 1980) is an English former cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler, and was capable of bowling 90+mph. Napier played first-class cricket for his home county of Essex since the o ...

* Scott Borthwick * Jade Dernbach Australia *

Clarrie Grimmett Clarence Victor "Clarrie" Grimmett (25 December 1891 – 2 May 1980) was a New Zealand-born Australian cricketer. He is thought by many to be one of the finest early spin bowlers, and usually credited as the developer of the flipper. Early l ...

Bob Holland Robert George Holland (19 October 1946 – 17 September 2017) was a New South Wales and Australian cricketer. He was, because of his surname, nicknamed "Dutchy". Holland, who spent the majority of his cricketing life in Newcastle, was a late ...

Travis Birt Travis Rodney Birt (born 9 December 1981) is an Australian former cricketer. A left-handed batsman, Birt represented the Australian national under-19 team before making his debut for Tasmania during the 2003–04 season. Strong form at state le ...

Brad Hodge Bradley John Hodge (born 29 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who batted in the middle order, as well as a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. Hodge was a prolific run-scorer in ...

India *

Lakshmipathy Balaji Lakshmipathy Balaji (born 27 September 1981) is an Indian cricket coach and former cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He announced his retirement from first-class and List A cricket in November 2016. He was the bowling coach fo ...

Bangladesh *

Tamim Iqbal Tamim Iqbal Khan ( Bengali: তামিম ইকবাল খান; born 20 March 1989), more popularly known as Tamim Iqbal, is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is the nephew of former Bangladesh skipper Akram Khan, the current chief selector o ...

Canada *

Ian Billcliff Ian Shaw Billcliff (born 26 October 1972) is a Canadian cricketer. Though born in Canada, he grew up in New Zealand. Billcliff made his debut in first-class cricket in 1991 for Otago in New Zealand domestic cricket, and in 1992 he played twice ...

Sri Lanka * Muttiah Muralitharan Zimbabwe *

Brendan Taylor Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean former international cricketer and a former Zimbabwean captain, who played all formats of the game. Taylor is a right-handed batsman but is also an off spinner. In 2015, former Z ...

Records

See List of New Zealand first-class cricket records.

References

External links

Wellington Cricket Association
{{Sport in Wellington New Zealand first-class cricket teams Cricket clubs established in 1873 Cricket in Wellington