Ford Trophy to kickstart New Zealand’s domestic cricket schedule, announces NZC chief cricket operations officer.
For the second consecutive year, New Zealand’s domestic summer will begin with the men’s Ford Trophy, a one-day competition. On October 25, the Ford Trophy will begin, and on November 15, the women’s Hallyburton Johnstone Shield (HBJ) will begin.
After twenty years, NZC rearranged the men’s domestic events last year to better accommodate the international schedule and provide varying pitch conditions for each format.
“Aligning the domestic and international schedules by format was well received by the playing and coaching groups last year, so we’re continuing that this season,” NZC chief cricket operations officer Catherine Campbell said in an NZC release. “It helped our domestic bowlers build-up their bowling loads initially through one-day cricket, which better prepared them for the physical demands of four-day cricket later in the season.
“It’s not always possible to line the fixtures up like that, but this season we’ve been able to again with the Ford Trophy being played over the top of England’s white-ball tour of New Zealand, and the Plunket Shield providing a good run-up into the West Indies Test series.
“At the start of the season perhaps the pitches are a bit less batter friendly, which presents opportunities for the bowlers to make a big impact on the game. By the second half of the season in February, conditions generally are more batter friendly.”
Campbell anticipates many of the New Zealand international players to return to local cricket following the Women’s ODI World Cup in India, which concludes a few weeks before to the HBJ Shield.
“The WHITE FERNS will come back from the 50-over world cup and we’d expect many of those players to be available for HBJ,” Campbell said. “We are also playing another North v South series in the week leading up to Christmas, which adds a little extra context on performances.
“All that should allow players to go into Super Smash in some good domestic form.”