A host of BLACKCAPS will spice up the opening day of the 2018/19 New Zealand Domestic season when first-class cricket gets underway this Wednesday.
Eleven international stars are available to join their Domestic sides for Round One of the historic Plunket Shield in Wellington, Nelson and Mount Maunganui, and nine players available for Round Two.
The marquee players will be welcomed by their Major Association teams with a number of well performed Domestic regulars currently on New Zealand A duty in the United Arab Emirates.
BLACKCAPS available for Plunket Shield:
Round One
Central Stags — Ross Taylor
Canterbury — Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls
Northern Districts — Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson (Tim Southee unavailable due to right knee medial miniscus irritation)
Auckland Aces — Jeet Raval
Round Two
Central Stags — Adam Milne
Canterbury — Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls
Northern Districts — Colin de Grandhomme, Ish Sodhi, Neil Wagner
Auckland Aces — Martin Guptill, Jeet Raval
Defending champions the Central Stags will be heading into their defence under a new captain, veteran opening batsman Greg Hay named to lead the team in their Plunket Shield campaign this summer.
Hay, 34, said it would be an honour to lead out the side on him home ground in Nelson: “I’m a proud Nelsonian and we haven’t had too many Nelsonians captaining the Stags through the years, so it will be a nice touch having my first game there as captain.”
Mark Craig meanwhile will make his first appearance as this season's Plunket Shield captain for the Otago Volts, who will meet a strong Northern Districts side first-up at Bay Oval.
The first two rounds of Plunket Shield will see sides fighting for an early advantage on the red-ball points table before all teams switch to white-ball mode for The Ford Trophy. The $60,000 Plunket Shield will then resume for two rounds before Christmas, with the concluding four rounds to be played in February and March 2019 following Burger King Super Smash.
