New Zealand national cricket team

New Zealand is represented on an international level by a professional cricket team called as the New Zealand cricket team which is also called as the ‘Black Caps.’ In 1929-30 the New Zealand test team became the fifth Test nation by playing its first Test against England at Christchurch.

In 1906 the Plunket Shield Tournament was begun as a domestic tournament and Lord Plunket the Governor General presented it. From 1906 to 1920-21 it was played on a challenge basis and was generally won by either Auckland or Canterbury. The initial four teams were Wellington, Otago, Canterbury and Auckland. In 1950-51 the Central districts joined these teams and in 1856-57 the Northern districts also joined. This system was renovated in 1975-76 when the Shell Trophy was launched.

New Zealand test team won their first Test in 1955-56 which was played at Eden Park in Auckland against the West Indies. The New Zealand ODI team played its first One day International in Christchurch against Pakistan in the 1972-73 season.

From January 1998 the term ‘Black Caps’ was coined for the team after Clear Communications the sponsor at that time held a competition to select some name for the team.
Daniel Vettori is the current Test captain. He has substituted Stephen Fleming who was the most successful captain of the New Zealand Cricket team and under whom the team secured 28 Test triumphs. In the first match as captain Vettori was defeated by South Africa by 358 runs which is the worst defeat of New Zealand by runs.
During the World cup of 1975 New Zealand played well and reached the semi finals. During the final of the ICC Champions Knock Out tournament held in 2000 at Nairobi New Zealand defeated India. The other teams in this tournament were England, Bangladesh, West Indies, Sri Lanka, India and Kenya.
Up to March 2008 New Zealand has participated in 339 Test matches out of which 41 percent have been drawn, 39.83 percent have been lost and 19.17 percent have been won.

Major achievements

Won the ICC Champions Knockout tournament in 2000
New Zealand scored 671 runs for 4 wickets against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 1990-91

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