Hawke Cup

The Hawke Cup is the major competition for New Zealand Cricket's District Associations, representing senior men's cricket in our provinces and towns.

The competition is split into four regional Zones.

Within each zone, a full round robin is played, games contested over two days. Each Zone’s regional winner then gets a coveted three-day Hawke Cup Challenge against the current holder.

To win the Hawke Cup, the challenger must beat the holder on the holder's home ground, either outright or with a lead on the first innings if the match is a draw. This typically produces a hard-fought match where no quarter is given!

The coveted Hawke Cup has been contested for more than century

Southland was the original holder of the Hawke Cup when it was first presented in 1910.

Hawke's Bay entered 2022/23 as the most recent holder, having held the Cup for two winters.

However, the Zone 3 and Zone 4 challenges from the 2021/22 season had yet to be played, delayed by Omicron the previous summer.

The 'catch up' Challenge Matches were rescheduled for November 2022 whereupon Canterbury Country uplifted the Cup from Hawke's Bay as the successful Zone 3 Challenger.

Canterbury Country would then play Southland, and retained the Cup for the start of the 'new season' 2022/23 Challenge Matches from January 2023.

Canterbury Country kept a grip on the Cup for the rest of the season, but yet again the final Challenge Match of the season would not take place as scheduled.

This time it was due to the devastating impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on Hawke's Bay, in February 2023.

Hawke's Bay had been due to make the final 2022/23 Zone 2 Challenge against Canterbury Country, and so these same two teams will once again wait to do battle, the match 'carried over' to the start of 2023/24.

More information on the Hawke Cup and the four regional zones