The CD women’s game is 40 not out — and a special summer of celebration awaits.

Central Districts Cricket, past players, and the surviving leading figures behind the 1979 formation of the champion team that is today known as the Central Hinds will gather to mark the milestone season in Palmerston North* on the afternoon of Saturday 28 March 2020*, where a commemorative Central Hinds T20 match will be played.

The showcase match, high tea and dinner will celebrate this special slice of heartland cricket history that saw a fledgling Central Districts Women’s Cricket Council break away from Wellington in the autumn of 1979.

Launching the “40 Not Out” summer of cricket today, CDCA is now inviting both past players and supporters to register for the event at https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/113023

“This will be a special season for CDCA and for all our women’s cricket family,” commented CDCA CEO Pete de Wet today.

“It’s also a wonderful piece of serendipity that we are celebrating this milestone with the modern-day Central Hinds as the reigning national champions in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, for every success we enjoy today harks back to the vision, and incredible drive and work, of our far-sighted forebears who started this legacy.”

While women’s provincial cricket was played in the region as far back as 1935 — when England Women played Wanganui at Cook’s Gardens, it wasn’t until the late 1970s that the formation of a Central Districts Women’s Cricket Council began to take shape.

Realising that were was a critical mass of female players in the CD region who weren’t getting an opportunity to play women’s first-class cricket, Wellington rep and New Zealand Women’s Cricket Council member Jan Davies — who hailed from Taranaki — met with Wellington members of the national council to discuss the possibility of setting up a team that would represent Taranaki, Whanganui, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu at the New Zealand First XI tournament under an official Central Districts Women banner.

The Central Districts Women’s Cricket Council was duly formed in May 1979 and, following inaugural trials at Labour Weekend, a youthful CD women’s side competed for the first time against New Zealand Under-23 at Palmerston North’s Fitzherbert Park that year, a loss but with Davies herself top-scoring with 38.

Since those pioneering days of cullottes and do-it-yourself uniforms — the players also adapted green and gold St Peter’s school jerseys to wear as they couldn't strech to blazers and tracksuits — the CD side has gone on to produce a notable honour’s roll of Domestic and International cricketers, including WHITE FERNS greats Aimee Watkins (née Mason), Rebecca Rolls and Sara McGlashan, and  Rosemary and Liz Signal who became the first twins in the world to play Test cricket.

Penny Kinsella, who played six Tests and 20 ODIs for New Zealand between 1988 and 1995, first played for the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield in 1981, representing the fledgling CD women’s side until 1988, when she shifted from her home town of Palmerston North to the capital.

“The formation of a CD women’s team was a really important step for the growth of women’s cricket in New Zealand,” says Kinsella. “Until then, there was no really clear pathway for a number of young players in the regions who had the potential to go on to represent New Zealand, because they couldn’t get into the national tournament that was dominated by the likes of Canterbury and Wellington.

“It was women doing it for themselves, with some key allies and support from the world of men’s cricket. The CD men’s association for instance was supportive from the start, and agreed to the women’s team sharing the same representative colours of the green and gold.”

At the 1979/80 New Zealand national women’s tournament in Christchurch, most of the young, newly formed side was making their debut at national level — including 16-year-olds Elizabeth and Rosemary Signal.

With a can-do attitude and plenty of raffles, by 1981 the enthusiastic backstage crew at the CD women’s association would even be hosting the nationals for the first time, in Palmerston North, and were hosts again in 1987 — the year the team made world history by becoming the first women’s side to wear coloured clothing, in a mixed double-wicket exhibition with the CD men’s association that played as entertainment in the innings break of a day/night match between South Australia and CD (men) at Cook’s Gardens in February 1987.

The men’s game at that time operated under a completely separate administrative umbrella throughout New Zealand, until amalgamation at national level was followed by the amalgamation between the two CD two councils in 1994/95.

As resourcing and structures slowly grew, CD won its maiden women’s title at national Under-23 level undefeated in 1997/98, then the national Under-21 trophy in 1998/99, again unbeaten.

By now known as the Central Hinds, the senior representative women’s team won its first national crown in 2005/06, winning the one-day State League under captain and State League player of the season Aimee Watkins, defeating Canterbury in an away final.

After the introduction of women’s domestic T20 in 2008/09, the Hinds went on to win both the T20 and One-Day national titles in the same season in 2009/10, former WHITE FERNS captain Watkins playing her 100th one-day match for the side in the same summer. When the present day Central Hinds won the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield by defeating the Auckland Hearts at Pukekura Park earlier this year, it fittingly ended a decade-long title drought in time for the 40th celebrations.

“With my father having played first-class cricket for Central Districts, it certainly meant a lot to me to be able to represent CD,” recalls Kinsella. “I’d grown up on the CD sidelines.

“Now my mum was a volunteer at the first women’s nationals to be played in Palmerston North and I started my career wearing green and gold — all thanks to the pioneers, and the support of their allies, who did the amazing organisational work to get it started and up and running.

“I just love all the developments we are seeing for the Central Hinds and women’s cricket in general today, and I’m so proud of how far it has come.

“I’m really looking forward to the 40 Not Out event to really reflect on this, and its going to be amazing to catch up with past players and share our experiences with today’s players as well.”

Please register for 40 Not Out celebrations so that we can keep you up to date with happenings — register today at  https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/113023

* Please note that the date and venue for this event have been updated since the original publication of this story. We look forward to Saturday 28 March 2020 in Palmerston North.

Article added: Friday 01 November 2019