The CD women’s game is 40 not out this summer and Central Districts Cricket, past players and the surviving leading figures behind the 1979 formation of the team today known as the Central Hinds will gather in Palmerston North on Saturday 28 March 2020, where a free admission Central Hinds v Wellington Blaze T20 at Fitzherbert Park will mark the 40th anniversary season.
Together with high tea and celebratory aftermatch dinner for registered past players and supporters, the one-off event will be an unmissable get-together for all who have been a part of the Central Hinds story over the past four decades, after a new Central Districts Women’s Cricket Council broke away from Wellington in 1979.
Are you a past player or supporter?
Register now for the 40 Not Out High Tea and formal dinner here
“It's a special season for CDCA and for all our women’s cricket family,” said CDCA CEO Pete de Wet.
“Every success we enjoy today harks back to the vision, and incredible drive and work, of our far-sighted forebears who started this legacy.”
While women’s provincial cricket was played in the region as far back as 1935 — when England Women played Wanganui at Cook’s Gardens, it wasn’t until the late 1970s that the formation of a Central Districts Women’s Cricket Council began to take shape.
Realising that were was a critical mass of female players in the CD region who weren’t getting an opportunity to play women’s first-class cricket, Wellington rep and New Zealand Women’s Cricket Council member Jan Davies — who hailed from Taranaki — met with Wellington members of the national council to discuss the possibility of setting up a team that would represent Taranaki, Whanganui, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu at the New Zealand First XI tournament under an official Central Districts Women banner.
Record-breaking WHITE FERN Sara McGlashan got her start for the Hinds
The Central Districts Women’s Cricket Council was formed in May 1979 and, following inaugural trials at Labour Weekend, a youthful CD women’s side competed for the first time against New Zealand Under-23 at Palmerston North’s Fitzherbert Park that year, a loss but with Davies herself top-scoring with 38.
Since those pioneering days of cullottes and do-it-yourself uniforms — the players also adapted green and gold St Peter’s school jerseys to wear, as they couldn't stretch to blazers and tracksuits — the CD side has gone on to produce a notable honour’s roll of Domestic and International cricketers, including WHITE FERNS greats Aimee Watkins (née Mason), Rebecca Rolls and Sara McGlashan, and Rosemary and Liz Signal who became the first twins in the world to play Test cricket.
Napier's WHITE FERNS and Football Ferns legend Rebecca Rolls | PHOTOSPORT
Penny Kinsella, who played six Tests and 20 ODIs for New Zealand between 1988 and 1995, first played for the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield in 1981, representing the fledgling CD women’s side until 1988, when she shifted from her home town of Palmerston North to the capital.
“The formation of a CD women’s team was a really important step for the growth of women’s cricket in New Zealand,” says Kinsella.
“Until then, there was no really clear pathway for a number of young players in the regions who had the potential to go on to represent New Zealand, because they couldn’t get into the national tournament that was dominated by the likes of Canterbury and Wellington."
At the 1979/80 New Zealand national women’s tournament in Christchurch, most of the young, newly formed side was making their debut at national level — including 16-year-olds Elizabeth and Rosemary Signal.
With a can-do attitude and plenty of raffles, by 1981 the enthusiastic backstage crew at the CD women’s association would even be hosting the nationals for the first time, in Palmerston North, and were hosts again in 1987 — the year the team made world history by becoming the first women’s side to wear coloured clothing, in a mixed double-wicket exhibition with the CD men’s association that played as entertainment in the innings break of a day/night match between South Australia and CD (men) at Cook’s Gardens in February 1987.
The men’s game at that time operated under a completely separate administrative umbrella throughout New Zealand, until amalgamation at national level was followed by the amalgamation between the two CD two councils in 1994/95.
“With my father having played first-class cricket for Central Districts, it certainly meant a lot to me to be able to represent CD as well,” recalls Kinsella. “I’d grown up on the CD sidelines.
“I just love all the developments we are seeing for the Central Hinds and women’s cricket in general today, and I’m so proud of how far it has come.
“I’m really looking forward to the 40 Not Out event to really reflect on this, and its going to be amazing to catch up with past players and share our experiences with today’s players as well.”
