The 2018–19 Plunket Shield was the 90th season of the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octo ...

, the domestic

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

competition in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It took place between October 2018 and March 2019. Unlike the previous edition of the competition, the tournament featured eight rounds of matches, instead of ten.

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

were the defending champions. Up to eleven international players, including New Zealand's captain

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand international cricketer and a former captain of the New Zealand national team. On 27 February 2023, Williamson became the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket. ...

, were available for the opening round of the tournament. In the opening round of fixtures, in the match between

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, both teams declared one of their innings for no runs, in a rain-affected match, to ensure that a result was possible. The same situation also happened in round seven of the tournament, with

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

declaring their first innings for no runs and Canterbury declaring their innings on 22/2 to get a result. Ahead of the final round of fixtures, Central Districts had a fifteen point lead over Canterbury, needing just five more points to win the competition and retain their title. However, following the

Christchurch mosque shootings Two consecutive mass shootings took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019. They were committed by a single perpetrator during Friday prayer, first at the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton, at 1:40p.m. and almost immediately afterwards ...

, Canterbury withdrew from their final game, against

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, therefore Central Districts retained their title. It was the first time in more than fifty years that Central Districts had won back-to-back titles.

Points table

Champions

Fixtures

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Plunket Shield season Plunket Shield 2018–19 New Zealand cricket season