Ford Trophy
Ford Trophy: participating teams
Ford Trophy: domestic tournament of Limited Overs (One-Day) cricket in Australia
The Ford Trophy championship was formed in 1971 under the first name of the New Zealand Corporation Knock-Out. The tournament is held in a format with a limited number of overs (List A status). As of 2021, 6 domestic teams are participating in the championship. One game season consists of a group stage and a playoff round. The most titled club of the competition is the Canterbury cricket team. It has 15 championship titles to its credit. The tournament is organized by New Zealand Cricket. Read a short article about the history of the domestic championship!
The Ford Trophy – the creation of the tournament
The Ford Trophy is the main national cricket tournament held in a format with a limited number of overs. This means that one game lasts a maximum of 8 hours; it consists of 2 innings, each of which is played for 50 overs (1 over – 6 innings).
The creator of the championship is the company New Zealand Cricket (NZC). It is the main sports body in the country that is responsible for this sport. The NZC was formed in 1894 (at first, it was called the NZ Cricket Council). In 1926, the company was accepted as a full member of the International Cricket Council. From that moment, the NZC officially has the right to field the New Zealand national team for international test matches, as well as to hold first-class domestic tournaments.
Today, NZC organizes domestic professional tournaments. The most famous of them are Plunket Shield (1906), The Ford Trophy (1971), Super Smash (2005).
The Ford Trophy is the 7th name of the tournament. As you understand, the name of the championship depends on the title sponsor of the championship. In other years, the sponsors of this tournament were considered:
- New Zealand Motor Corporation (1971-1977);
- Gillette Cup (1977-1979);
- National Knock-Out (1979-1980);
- Shell Cup – (1980-2001);
- State Shield – (2001-2009);
- New Zealand One-Day Cricket Competition (2009-2011);
- The Ford Trophy (from 2011 to the present).
Until 1980, the competitions were held in the playoff format (preliminary round, semi-final and final). From 1980-1985, in the league format (teams played with each other once, then the two best teams went to the final). Further on, playoff matches were re-introduced for several seasons, and several seasons were played in a league format with a double round-robin system, etc.
Starting from the 2009-2010 season, six teams play with each other once, and the top 3 clubs advance to the second round of 8 matches.
The Ford Trophy – all tournament results
Six domestic teams representing various districts of the country participate in The Ford Trophy:
- Canterbury cricket team (from the self-titled Canterbury region with a population of 640,000 people);
- Auckland cricket team (from the Auckland Region with a population of 1.5 million people);
- Wellington cricket team (the capital of NZ with a population of 200,000 people);
- Northern Districts cricket team (formed from 6 districts of the country);
- Central Districts cricket team (formed from 8 districts of NZ);
- Otago cricket team (from the Otago, North Otago and Southland regions).
The debut season was held in 1971. The first winner of the tournament was the Canterbury cricket team. As already noted, the format of the competition changed in 2009. So, the players from Northern Knights became the first to win a trophy in this format of the championship. In February 2009, they beat the Auckland cricket team with a 21-run advantage.
For all time, the leading team of the tournament is considered to be Canterbury. It is the current champion of The Ford Trophy. In the last decisive match, which took place on March 6, 2021, the club won with an advantage of 8 wickets against the Northern Districts cricket team.
In total, CCT has 15 championship titles on its account. In 2nd place is the Auckland cricket team. It has 12 trophies to its credit. The Otago cricket team has the fewest decisive victories – 2 titles, the last one in 2008.
Follow all the teams and the future seasons of the popular tournament with us on our website!
