History of New Zealand cricket to 1863

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This article describes the history of New Zealand cricket to 1863. First-class cricket began in New Zealand in January 1864.

1 Historical background
2 Early developments
3 Beginning of first-class cricket
4 References

[edit] Historical background

The modern history of New Zealand begins in 1642 when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman landed on Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and in New Zealand. Working for the Dutch East India Company, he had set out from Batavia (now Djakarta) and was supposed to find and explore Australia, which had been sighted by Willem Jansz in 1606, but he sailed along the wrong latitude, too far to the south, and missed it completely, finally sighting Tasmania instead. Tasman named New Zealand as Staten Landt and sailed north along the west coast. He thought the Cook Strait was a bight and that New Zealand was a single entity, not two islands. He landed somewhere on South Island and was attacked by Māori, who killed four of his sailors. He returned to Batavia by way of Tonga and Fiji. In 1644, despite a further voyage by Tasman to the north coast of Australia, the Dutch East India Company could not see anything promising in his findings, either for trade or as a naval route, and decided not to fund further exploration of the area. As a result, it was over a century before Europeans mounted any more expeditions to Australia and New Zealand, though a few ships off course did land there from time to time.

It was in 1766 that the Royal Society commissioned Captain James Cook to lead an astronomical expedition to the Pacific Ocean for the primary purpose of charting a transit of Venus. He had a second purpose which was to search for a southern continent called Terra Australis, and to establish if this had a connection with the lands visited by Tasman in the 1640s. Captain Cook left England in 1768. He sailed south and around Cape Horn to reach Tahiti in April 1769, where the astronomical survey was concluded. He then sailed west to try and find New Zealand. He did so and, apart from a few minor errors, mapped the complete coastline. He discovered the Cook Strait between the two main islands, which Tasman had missed.

European colonisation of New Zealand, particularly by British settlers, began in earnest after 1800. It may safely be assumed that cricket was first played there soon after the English arrived.

Concerned about the exploitation of Māori by Europeans, the British Colonial Office appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832. In 1834, Busby convened the United Tribes of New Zealand to select a flag and declare their independence, which led to the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand. This declaration did not allay the fears of the Church Missionary Society, who continued lobbying for British annexation. Increasing French interest in the region led the British to annex New Zealand by Royal Proclamation in January 1840.

Meanwhile, in 1832, the earliest definite reference to cricket in New Zealand is in the diary of Archdeacon Williams.

[edit] Early developments

In March 1860, the first inter-provincial match was played between teams representing Wellington and Auckland. Other games soon followed but they were all one day matches that were not first-class.

In January 1864 (see below), Otago v. Canterbury at Dunedin was the start of first-class cricket in New Zealand.

In 1906, the Plunket Shield competition began in New Zealand. This was officially the Challenge Shield. It was presented by Lord Plunket, Governor-General of New Zealand at the time, to be contested by the major New Zealand Cricket Associations which were Auckland, Canterbury, Otago and Wellington. The first winners were Canterbury.

In 1929, New Zealand’s debut in Test cricket was a four-match series at home to England. Venues were Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland twice. England won the inaugural Test by 8 wickets; the other three were drawn.

[edit] Beginning of first-class cricket

The inaugural first-class match in New Zealand was Otago v Canterbury at the South Dunedin Recreation Ground on 27-29 January 1864. It was arranged as a 3-day match with 4-ball overs. Canterbury won the toss and decided to field but Otago won by 76 runs.