NZC Cup and Shield

Year 7 and 8 School's competition

New Zealand Cricket is delighted to announce the continuation of the Intermediate Cup (National Primary School Boys' competition) and the Intermediate Shield (National Primary School Girls' competition) in 2012 and we now extend an invitation to your school to participate.

The purpose of these competitions is to encourage boys and girls to play cricket. It provides an opportunity for them to participate in a limited overs 11-a-side hard-ball competition and, in particular, it gives schools whose normal sports programmes follow different paths, the opportunity of playing against one another at cricket. While entry advice has been e-mailed to full primary and intermediate schools, all students up to and including those in Year 8 are eligible to compete.

The Initial rounds will be played in 16 Clusters around Auckland, aligned with the 16 Principal and Community Cricket Clubs around this great city of ours. This ensures that travel is kept to a minimum in the early rounds. Winners of each cluster will then go on to the knockout rounds, playing against schools from other parts of Auckland. The Auckland Champion will then play for the right to attend the National Finals in Palmerston North during term 4.

This year in Auckland we are also offering Intermediate Kiwi 8s as an alternate format. This should enable schools that aren't traditionally strong at cricket to compete against opponents of similar ability in a format that encourages participation and fun, and doesn't demand as much of a time commitment. This is an 8-a-side modified version of cricket and a full game can be completed in 35-45 minutes and can take place with or without a cricket pitch. It uses only soft balls and limited equipment and the rules can be viewed here.

With the competitions commencing early in the new school year, it is essential that entries be completed as soon as possible - the deadline is 25th November, 2011 - and returned to me at Auckland Cricket. Once entries have been received and processed, they will then be handed to the respective zone convenors who will prepare a draw and liaise further with you.

Why not give it a go? It can be a lot of fun and remember, entry is free.

We welcome your involvement.

The NZC Cup and Shield Finals for 2011 have wrapped up! Details are as follows...

Cornwall Park #2 and #3 respectively played host to the NZC Cup and Shield finals on Tuesday 1st November, with Belmont taking home the NZC Cup in an emphatic win over Kings and Takapuna Normal winning the NZC Shield in a hard fought victory over Viscount.

Results:

Thursday 27th October at 10:30am, Cornwall Park # 2, (rain date Monday 31st October), NZ Cricket Cup (boys) Semi-Final # 1 – Balmoral vs Belmont
Belmont defeated Balmoral, proceeding to the Final

Monday 31st October at 10:30am, Cornwall Park # 2, NZ Cricket Cup (boys), Semi-Final # 2 – Kings vs Somerville
Kings defeated Somerville to meet Belmont in the Final

Tuesday 1st November at 10:30am, Cornwall Park # 3, NZ Cricket Shield (girls) FINAL – Takapuna Normal vs Viscount
Takapuna defeated Viscount to take the NZ Cricket Shield (girls)

Tuesday 1st November at 10:30am, Cornwall Park # 2, NZ Cricket Cup (boys) FINAL – Belmont vs Kings
Belmont defeated Kings to take the NZ Cricket Cup (boys)

The NZC Cup and Shield are New Zealand's prestigious National year 7 & 8 School’s Cricket competitions.

Having started in 2000, the competitions give primary and intermediate boys and girls the opportunity to enter into a national competition and encourage children to play cricket. In 2010 we had 3024 players participate from 252 teams across New Zealand making it one of the largest primary school sporting competitions in New Zealand.

This year in Auckland we are also offering Kiwi 8s as an alternative format. This should enable schools who aren't traditionally strong at cricket to compete against opponents of similar ability in a format which encourages participation and fun, and doesn't demand as much of a time commitment as the traditional format. It is a modified version of cricket consisting of only 8 overs per team, and a full game can be completed in 35-45 minutes. It uses only soft balls and limited equipment, with batters batting in pairs and everyone getting a bowl.

This is a brand new concept in 2011 and will be played in local 1-day cluster field days, with winners advancing to an Auckland wide finals day to be played at the Auckland Domain towards the end of Term 1.

If your school is interested in entering a team in the Kiwi 8s then fill out and return the registration form ASAP.