Cricket: Twenty20 added to domestic competition

A Twenty20 domestic cricket competition will make its debut this year.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) confirmed today the major associations will contest a short tournament as part of the 2005/06 domestic programme.

The format will see two pools of three teams, with each team having one home and one away match.

The top qualifiers from each pool will meet in the final on Sunday February 5 2006.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said domestic Twenty20 competitions have been successfully trialled in England and South Africa and the short format tournament would provide an opportunity to gauge public support here.

"There was a lot of public interest in the international Twenty20 match against Australia earlier this year and with the availability of the Blackcaps for the State teams we anticipate high interest in this tournament," he said.

The team with the highest run-rate after the pool matches would be granted a home final.

Snedden said they had created sufficient space between the one-day matches and four-day matches to accommodate the Twenty20 programme this season.

NZC confirmed the teams would be competing for the State Twenty20 trophy.


Twenty20 programme for 2005/06:

January 13 - Canterbury v Otago, Christchurch
January 15 - Wellington v Northern Districts, Wellington
January 22 - Central Districts v Canterbury, Napier; Northern Districts v Auckland, Hamilton
January 27 - Otago v Central Districts, Dunedin
January 29 - Auckland v Wellington, Auckland
February 5 - Final

- NZPA