Super Smash
Super Smash: participating teams
Super Smash cricket tournament - all about championship
Dream11 Super Smash is a professional cricket championship held in New Zealand since 2005. The first name of the championship is New Zealand Twenty20 Competition. The tournament is held in a format with a limited number of overs (Twenty20 status). Six national teams representing different districts of their country participate. The largest number of championship titles on account of the Wellington Firebirds and Auckland Aces. The tournament is organized by New Zealand Cricket. Until 2026, the title sponsors of the championship are the Indian fantasy sports company – Dream11. Get acquainted with the main domestic championship of the Twenty20 status.
Dream11 Super Smash – general information
New Zealand Cricket (formerly New Zealand Cricket Council) is a national sports company responsible for all domestic cricket championships and teams in New Zealand. NZC was formed back in 1894 in the city of Christchurch. After 32 years, the company received the status of a full member of the International Cricket Council.
Today, New Zealand Cricket organizes popular international and domestic tournaments. Among them, the most famous are Plunket Shield, The Ford Trophy and Super Smash. NZC also manages six professional cricket teams, which participate in all domestic tournaments.
Dream11 Super Smash is a cricket championship held in a format with a limited number of overs. The matches are held in the Twenty20 status. This means that one game lasts up to 3 hours, two innings are played on it, 20 overs are played each. The championship appeared in the country in 2005. For 16 years, the name of the tournament has been changed five times:
- NZ Twenty20 Competition – 2005-2006;
- State Twenty20 – 2006-2009;
- HRV Cup – 2009-2013;
- HRV Twenty20 – 2013-2014
- Super Smash – from 2014 to the present;
By the way, starting from 2014, the name of the current title sponsor was added to the tournament’s name. So in different years, the sponsors of Super Smash were considered:
- 2014-2016 Georgie Pie – former fast-food chain;
- 2016-2017 McDonald’s Restaurants (NZ) Limited – a popular fast-food chain;
- 2017-2019 Burger King – another successful fast-food chain;
- 2019-2026 Dream11 – an Indian fantasy sports platform.
Dream11 Super Smash – Championship results
Starting from the date of formation, the championship consists of a double round-robin draw, according to the result of which the top 3 clubs out of 6 pass to the playoff round. As of 2021, 6 domestic teams participate in the championship:
- Auckland Aces. The color of the form is dark blue;
- Canterbury Kings. The color of the form is red;
- Central Stags. The color of the form is dark green;
- Northern Knights. The color of the form is purple;
- Otago Volts. The color of the uniform is royal blue;
- Wellington Firebirds. The color of the form is yellow.
The debut season was held from January 13 to February 5, 2006. The first final was held at Eden Park Stadium. Canterbury Kings won by 6 wickets against Auckland Aces (the only championship title for the club).
An interesting moment happened in the final of the 2008-2009 season. In the final match, the clubs Auckland Ases and Canterbury Kings met. Due to rain in the city of Dunedin, the Super Smash final did not take place. Since the players from Auckland took 1st place during the group stage, they were awarded the championship trophy.
As of July 10, the last final was held on February 13, 2021. The match was won by the Wellington Firebirds cricket team beating the Canterbury Kings by 5 wickets.
Wellington Firebirds and Auckland have four championship titles each. The Central Kings have three winning finals. Northern Knights and Otago Volts have two trophies each on Super Smash.
Did you know that in the period from 2008-2014, the winners of the domestic tournament were able to participate in the international Champions League T20? The championship was mainly held in India and South Africa. During the six seasons spent (in 2008, the draw was canceled due to the military conflict in Mumbai), only three times the teams from New Zealand reached the group stage of the tournament. The most successful team was the Otago Volts. It took 1st place in the qualifying stage and 3rd place in the group stage (the top two clubs reached the semifinals). Unfortunately, due to the lack of interest among the audience, as well as unstable sponsorship, the CL T20 has not been held since 2015.
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