Central Districts Cricket is a New Zealand Major Association comprised of eight District Associations.

Six of our Districts are in the lower central North Island:

• Hawke's Bay Cricket Association established 1882
• Taranaki Cricket Association established 1894
• Wairarapa Cricket established 1894
• Horowhenua-Kapiti Cricket Association established mid-2000's (previously Horowhenua from mid-1890s)
  
• Manawatū Cricket Association established 1895 (previously Manawatū-Rangitikei from 1893)
• Cricket Whanganui established 1896

Two of our Districts form the top of the South Island, known as the 'top of the south' in colloquial New Zealandese:

• Nelson Cricket established 1873
• Marlborough Cricket Association established 1886

As such, Central Districts is the only one of Aotearoa New Zealand's six Major Associations (first-class playing regions) to represent both the main islands, and have first-class grounds on both islands.

Before CD's creation in 1950, many players from these districts competed for Wellington or Canterbury, while in the early years of the New Zealand game (19th century), larger provinces like Hawke's Bay and Nelson once fielded first-class teams in their own right.

The CDCA catchment contains many places of note for cricketing historians and enthusiasts.

More than a century before the founding of the Central Districts Cricket Association, the first fully recorded cricket match in New Zealand was played in what is now one of its Districts, Nelson: a men's match at Victory Square in March 1844. Victory Square is still in recreational and club use to this day.

Nelson was also the place where the first women's cricket match was played in New Zealand, in 1886.

Motueka Cricket Club, in the wider Nelson Cricket area, is meanwhile the oldest continuous cricket club in New Zealand, established in 1857. 

In the formative days of the Central Districts Cricket Association, there were 10 District Associations (called Minor Associations at that time).

Subsequently however, Southern Hawke's Bay merged with Hawke's Bay, and Rangitikei merged back with Manawatū. The emblem of Central Districts Cricket, a 10-point Stags head, was conceived as representing these 10 member Districts. Today, the emblem represents the eight modern District Associations.

Scroll to the end of this page (website viewers) to contact the team at your local District Association or follow your District's fortunes in official Hawke Cup and CDCA competitions by visiting the CDCA Competitions tab in the main menu above.