Men's Ford Trophy to kick off NZ domestic calendar again

The men's Ford Trophy (one-day competition) will kick-off New Zealand's domestic summer for the second year in a row. The Ford Trophy will start on October 25, followed by the women's Hallyburton Johnstone Shield (HBJ) taking off on November 15.

NZC had changed the order of the men's domestic competitions last year after two decades to offer different pitch conditions across formats, as well as to better align with the international schedule.

"Aligning the domestic and international schedules by format was well received by the playing and coaching groups last year, so we're continuing that this season," NZC chief cricket operations officer Catherine Campbell said in an NZC release. "It helped our domestic bowlers build-up their bowling loads initially through one-day cricket, which better prepared them for the physical demands of four-day cricket later in the season.

"It's not always possible to line the fixtures up like that, but this season we've been able to again with the Ford Trophy being played over the top of England's white-ball tour of New Zealand, and the Plunket Shield providing a good run-up into the West Indies Test series.

"At the start of the season perhaps the pitches are a bit less batter friendly, which presents opportunities for the bowlers to make a big impact on the game. By the second half of the season in February, conditions generally are more batter friendly."

With the Women's ODI World Cup in India ending a few weeks before the start of the HBJ Shield, Campbell expects a lot of the New Zealand international players to return to domestic cricket after the global event.

"The WHITE FERNS will come back from the 50-over world cup and we'd expect many of those players to be available for HBJ," Campbell said. "We are also playing another North v South series in the week leading up to Christmas, which adds a little extra context on performances.

"All that should allow players to go into Super Smash in some good domestic form."

The Basin Reserve in Wellington will host the one-day finals weekend, with the men's eliminator on February 20, the women's grand final on February 21 and the men's grand final on February 22. Fourteen venues across New Zealand will host the domestic one-day fixtures this season, ranging from Queens Park in Invercargill in the south to Cobham Oval in Whangārei.

The women's team of Otago and Canterbury men will be chasing their third consecutive one-day titles this season.

Like last season, the one-day competitions will be split by the first half of the Plunket Shield and the full Super Smash.

The Plunket Shield schedule is set to be released on August 13, with the Super Smash fixtures to follow on August 18.