The 2025-26 summer of Cricket launched in fine weather with the annual “Mud Cup” tournament involving Christchurch club sides St Albans, Burnside and Sydenham along with a Marlborough men’s Representative team played over 3 days from 26-28 Sept. Burnside defeated Marlborough in the final by 12 runs, a good effort for a home side depleted by injuries. Marlborough’s Josh Poole was named player of tournament. The Ultraquip Men’s side is next in action at Horton Park on 2nd November hosting Nelson in a Newman Shield game while the PaknSave Women’s side take on Nelson on 23rd November also at Horton Park.
Horton Park also hosted the annual Colleges quad tournament from 30 Nov to 2 Oct with MBC joined by Auckland Grammer, Otago BHS and Christ’s College in a 3 day festival, while an MBC Year 10 team hosted St Andrews at College Park in a one day match on 2nd October. So plenty of early action for our young cricketers ahead of another busy season.
This summer sees the return of the top of the South Tasman Premier League involving 6 teams from Nelson and 2 from Marlborough. Renwick and Celtic will once again combine as the Dolphins team while Wairau and Wairau Valley combine as the Falcons. The TPL season kicks off on Saturday 11th October with both local teams playing at Horton Park and games starting at 11am.
The SBS Bank 2nd grade 40 over competition begins on Saturday 18th Oct with 3rd grade commencing the following weekend.
Junior grades meanwhile start in early November and there is plenty of time still to register. Smash Play is for our youngest players with centres at Seddon Domain on Tuesdays, at Renwick School on Wednesdays, Picton on Thursdays and Horton Park on Fridays.
Harcourts Kiwi Cricket is the next stage played with a soft ball at Lansdowne Park on Saturday mornings with separate boys and girls sections. A new innovation this summer is the introduction of Machine Ball Cricket in association with former NZ International Cricketer Chris Cairns. This will be trialled in Marlborough during the post Xmas competition during February and March. Register now for Smash Play or Kiwi Cricket via the “register now” link on our website home page – www.marlboroughcricket.co.nz
For WK 5th and 4th boys and girls hardball grades, register through one of our clubs via the “registration” tab on our website. These grades start over weekend of 7th / 8th November with players currently being organised into teams so get in touch with your club asap or you can email Liv@marlboroughcricket.co.nz for help if you are unsure which club to contact or for information on any of our junior cricket options.
A reminder for anyone wanting to play cricket this summer to register as soon as possible on the PlayHQ platform. Marlborough Cricket is committed to removing barriers to participation in sport. Please contact us for more information on how we can help.