Summer and winter
Cricket enjoys an enthusiastic following in New Zealand. With almost 100,000 registered players, it is the biggest summer sport - more popular than tennis or golf.
It's a hang-over from New Zealand's colonial past when settlers brought a love of the 'gentleman's game' with them and, since the early 19th century, cricket has continued to hold its own as an iconic part of a Kiwi summer.
During the Antipodean winter, cricket enthusiasts head inside for indoor cricket - an increasingly popular New Zealand sport.
First played in New Zealand in the early 1980s indoor cricket is an extreme version of the traditional game and is both fast and furious. Two teams of eight players battle it out in 16 overs on a fully netted, totally enclosed court just 28 x 11 metres in size.
A ‘Hollywood vs Wellywood’ style charity cricket match, which pitched professionals against politicians and celebrities at Wellington’s Basin Reserve raised more than half a million dollars.
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