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New Zealand's premier first-class competition Plunket Shield is all set to start on October 20. The competition was named after William Plunket, the Governor-General of New Zealand from 1904 to 1910.
The campaign will see a total of six teams participating namely Auckland Aces, Central Stags, Canterbury, Northern Districts, Otago Volts, and Wellington Firebirds.
Each team will play a total of eight games, with the team topping the points table at the end of the tournament deemed as the winners of the competition. The winning team will bag 12 points for each game.
Central Districts will enter this year's edition as defending champions after they topped the points table with 101 points in the 2022-23 season. Canterbury occupied the second position and ended as the runners-up.
A total of 11 venues will host the competition namely Basin Reserve in Wellington, Seddon Park in Hamilton, Eden Park Outer Oval in Auckland, Saxton Oval in Nelson, Hagley Oval in Christchurch, University Oval in Dunedin, McLean Park in Napier, Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, Mainpower Oval in Rangiora, Fitzherbert Park in Palmerston North and Molyneux Park in Alexandra.
Indian-born New Zealand cricketer Bharat Popli, who plays for Northern Districts, topped the batting charts with 819 runs in the previous edition. Jacob Duffy of Otago Volts secured the top spot with the ball, scalping 32 wickets.
Plunket Shield 2023-24: Full Schedule & Match Timings (All Times in IST)
Match 1 - October 20 to 23, Auckland vs Central Districts, 3:00 AM
Match 2 - October 20 to 23, Northern Knights vs Otago, 3:00 AM
Match 3 - October 20 to 23, Wellington vs Canterbury, 3:00 AM
Match 4 - October 28 to 31, Auckland vs Northern Knights, 3:00 AM
Match 5 - October 28 to 31, Central Districts vs Wellington, 3:00 AM
Match 6 - October 28 to 31, Canterbury vs Otago, 3:00 AM
Match 7 - November 6 to 9, Wellington vs Northern Knights, 3:00 AM
Match 8 - November 6 to 9, Canterbury vs Auckland, 3:00 AM
Match 9 - November 6 to 9, Otago vs Central Districts, 3:00 AM
Match 10 - November 15 to 18, Central Districts vs Canterbury, 3:00 AM
Match 11 - November 15 to 18, Otago vs Northern Knights, 3:00 AM
Match 12 - November 15 to 18 Auckland vs Wellington, 3:00 AM
Match 13 - February 29 to March 03, Northern Knights vs Central Districts, 3:00 AM
Match 14 - February 29 to March 03, Canterbury vs Wellington, 3:00 AM
Match 15 - February 29 to March 03, Otago vs Auckland, 3:00 AM
Match 16 - March 8 to 11, Central Districts vs Wellington, 3:00 AM
Match 17 - March 8 to 11, Otago vs Canterbury, 3:00 AM
Match 18 - March 8 to 11, Northern Knights vs Auckland, 3:00 AM
Match 19 - March 16 to 19, Canterbury vs Northern Knights, 3:00 AM
Match 20 - March 16 to 19, Central Districts vs Auckland, 3:00 AM
Match 21 - March 16 to 19, Wellington vs Otago, 3:00 AM
Match 22 - March 24 to 27, Central Districts vs Otago, 3:00 AM
Match 23 - March 24 to 27, Auckland vs Canterbury, 3:00 AM
Match 24 - March 24 to 27, Northern Knights vs Wellington, 3:00 AM
Plunket Shield 2023-24: Telecast & Live-Streaming Details
The New Zealand Cricket YouTube channel will livestream all the matches of Plunket Shield 2023. However, there’s no TV broadcast for fans in India.
Plunket Shield 2023-24: Full Squads
Auckland Aces
Adithya Ashok, George Worker, Robert O'Donnell, Simon Keene, William O'Donnell, Harjot Johal, Ryan Harrison, Sean Solia, Cam Fletcher, Cole Briggs, Quinn Sunde, Benjamin Lister, Danru Ferns, Louis Delport, Matthew Gibson, Yahya Zeb.
Canterbury
Chad Bowes, Ken McClure, Leo Carter, Matt Boyle, Mitchell Hay, Rhys Mariu, Zakary Foulkes, Cole McConchie, Henry Shipley, Michael Rippon, Angus McKenzie, Edward Nuttall, Fraser Sheat, Michael Rae, Sean Davey, William O'Rourke.
Central Stags
Greg Hay, Jack Boyle, Tom Bruce, William Clark, Brad Schmulian, Doug Bracewell, Joey Field, Josh Clarkson, Bayley Wiggins (Wk), Curtis Heaphy (Wk), Dane Cleaver, Ajaz Patel, Brett Randell, Jayden Lennox, Liam Dudding, Ray Toole.
Northern Districts
Bharat Popli, Henry Cooper, Jeet Raval, Joe Carter, Katene Clarke, Kristian Clarke, Brett Hampton, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tim Seifert (Wk), Frederick Walker, Joe Walker, Matthew Fisher, Scott Johnston, Tim Pringle, Zak Gibson.
Otago Volts
Dale Phillips, Hamish Rutherford, Llew Johnson, Ollie White, Thorn Parkes, Dean Foxcroft, Jacob Cumming, Luke Georgeson, Max Chu (Wk), Andrew Hazeldine, Ben Lockrose, Jacob Duffy, Jake Gibson, Jarrod McKay, Matthew Bacon, Travis Muller.
Wellington Firebirds
James Hartshorn, Jesse Tashkoff, Nick Greenwood, Nick Kelly, Tim Robinson, Troy Johnson, Muhammad Arslan Abbas, Rachin Ravindra, Callum McLachlan (Wk), Gareth Severin (Wk), Ben Sears, Ian McPeake, Logan van Beek, Michael Snedden, Nathan Smith, Peter Younghusband.
