It's the first day of Spring, the blossom is out, spring lambs are bouncing and the Central Stags are officially in training - just eight weeks away from beginning their 76th summer of national domestic cricket.

The publication of The Ford Trophy schedule last month confirmed that the Stags will again start their season in the one-day format — the competition they won last summer.

But last season also saw the team perform strongly in the Plunket Shield first-class championship, and today’s reveal of the 2026/27 NZC Plunket Shield schedule maps the road to win back one of the most precious trophies in New Zealand sport.

The Stags have a strong recent record in this arena.

They’ve been national first-class champions three times in the last nine years, and have 12 Plunket Shield titles overall.

 

 

The 2026/27 campaign sees the team play their first pre-Christmas block of matches in Palmerston North, Mount Maunganui, and Napier (twice).

After the opening round hosting the Firebirds at Fitzherbert Park, a round two trip to Bay Oval pits the Stags against Northern Districts, rivals the Stags defeated outright twice last season. 

Otago and the Auckland Aces then come to play at McLean Park in the first fortnight of December, before the Super Smash window starts.

After the white-ball competitions finish, the last block of first-class four-dayers begin with a pointed rematch at Napier’s McLean Park, from Monday 1 March 2027. 

 

 

It was here last summer that Stags opening bowler Brett Randell famously took his world record five wickets in five deliveries — reducing Northern Districts to a scarcely believable score of 9/5, en route to his seven-wicket haul and a memorable victory.

Northern Districts will no doubt be looking forward to returning to the scene of that carnage in the fifth round.

It will also be the last home match of the season for the Stags: the acid end (rounds six, seven and eight) takes them on the road to Auckland, Wellington, and to play the defending champs in Christchurch as the Stags go hunting the trophy.

 

 

Red-ball captain Tom Bruce said that while his team is prepared for battle wherever they play, having an early run of home games is a nice way to enter into the fray.

"The whole squad is excited to put the whites on again and push for some silverware in the first-class format," he said, "and we'll be hoping to get off to a winning start in our first game against Wellington, in Palmerston North.

"The Plunket Shield is the most sought-after trophy of the Domestic season, and it's always proven to be the hardest trophy to win but we have a solid group of first-class players that have all had plenty of Domestic and International experience.

"If we can play some consistent cricket for long periods of time, I have no doubt this squad will go a long way in the format."

All Plunket Shield matches are free admission in New Zealand, with livescoring and free livestreams at cdcricket.co.nz every day.

Last summer’s Plunket Shield championship was one of the closest competitions in years: five of the six teams (all bar Wellington) were still in the reckoning as the final round of matches got underway.

 

 

The Stags did their bit by defeating Northern Districts by 25 runs in a Hamilton thriller. It was their fourth outright victory (alongside two draws and two losses) for 2025/26, and got them into the top three on the table.

Canterbury meanwhile secured the Shield with their own outright victory against Auckland, while Otago beat Wellington to claim second place. All three of those teams — Canterbury, Otago, and the Stags — had finished with a good ledger of four wins from eight rounds.

This summer sees the team set off under the stewardship of returning Head Coach Heinrich Malan. 

Malan has already won two Plunket Shield championships with the team, in 20217/18 and 2018/19, and first-class aficionados will be looking forward to following the progress of the class of 2026/27.

 

 

2026/27 • CENTRAL STAGS SCHEDULE 

 

ROUND ONE home

Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 November 2026

Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North

v Wellington Firebirds

 

ROUND TWO away

Friday 27 to Monday 30 November 2026

Bay Oval, Mt Maunganui

v Northern Districts

 

ROUND THREE home

Monday 7 to Thursday 10 December 2026

McLean Park, Napier

v Auckland Aces

 

ROUND FOUR home

Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 December 2026

McLean Park, Napier

v Otago

 

[ BREAK FOR SUPER SMASH AND PART TWO OF FORD TROPHY]

 

ROUND FIVE home

Monday 1 to Thursday 4 March 2027

McLean Park, Napier

v Northern Districts

 

ROUND SIX away

Wednesday 10 to Saturday 13 March 2027

Colin Maiden Park, Auckland

v Auckland Aces

 

ROUND SEVEN away

Thursday 18 to Sunday 21 March 2027

Cello Basin Reserve, Wellington

v Wellington Firebirds

 

ROUND EIGHT away

Friday 26 to Monday 29 March 2027

Hagley Oval, Christchurch

v Canterbury

 

---

 

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS - RECENT PLUNKET SHIELD SEASONS

 

2025/26

• Brett Randell becomes the first cricketer in the world to take five consecutive first-class wickets (‘triple hat-trick’)

• Randell’s 7/25 is the second best first-class haul in Stags history, and best by a pace bowler (after spinner Bryan Yuile)

 

2024/25

• Tom Bruce becomes the first Central Stag to hit a first-class triple century

• Bruce's 345 against Auckland is the third-highest individual score in New Zealand history, behind only Bert Sutcliffe 

• The team’s total in that match, 700/5 declared, is a Stags first-class record

• Allrounder Will Clark scores a maiden century and takes a maiden five-wicket bag in the same match, against Northern Districts

• Clark becomes just the third player in Plunket Shield history to record a maiden ‘double’ in the same match

 

2022/23

• Central Stags win the Plunket Shield

 

2019/20

• Central Stags set a new team record for most consecutive first-class matches without defeat (21 matches, from October 2016)

 

2018/19

• Central Stags win the Plunket Shield

 

2017/18

• Brad Schmulian hits a New Zealand record highest score on first-class debut, 203, against Northern Districts

• Ajaz Patel becomes New Zealand’s top Plunket Shield wicket-taker for a third consecutive season

• Central Stags win the Plunket Shield

 

 

 

Article added: Tuesday 1 September 2026