Wellington Blaze

Personnel
Captain	Leigh Kasperek (one-day) Amelia Kerr (T20)
Coach	Lance Dry
Team information
Colours
Founded	First recorded match: 1934
Home ground	Basin Reserve,Wellington
Secondary home ground(s)	Karori Park,Wellington Hutt Recreation Ground,Lower Hutt
History
First-class debut	Auckland in 1936 at Eden Park,Auckland
HBJS wins	18(including 1 shared)
SS wins	8
Official website	Cricket Wellington

TheWellington Blaze is the women's representativecricket team for theNew Zealand city ofWellington. They play their home games atBasin Reserve. They compete in theHallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition and theWomen's Super Smash Twenty20 competition. They are the most successful side in the history of the Super Smash, with eight title wins.

Wellington played in the firstHallyburton Johnstone Shield in 1935–36, in which they beatAuckland to claim the title.^[1] They subsequently defended the title over the next two seasons, before losing it to Auckland in 1939–40.^[2][3][4]

Wellington have gone on to win the Shield (under various names) 18 times. They had periods of dominance in the 1950s, where they won the title five times, and in the 1970s, where they won the title a further five times.^[5][6] Throughout the 1980s and 1990s,Canterbury dominated the competition, winning the title 20 out of 21 times, but Wellington were the side to break their streak, topping the points table in 1989–90 with three wins from four matches.^[6][7] They next won the one-day competition was in 2003–04, when they shared the trophy with Canterbury after the final was rained-off.^[8] Between 2006–07 and2021–22, they lost in the final seven times, including three times in a row between2008–09 and2010–11, before again winning the competition in2022–23, beating Canterbury in the final.^[9]

Wellington have also played in theSuper Smash since its inaugural season in 2008–09, and are the most successful side in the history of the competition, with six title wins. They won the title in2008–09,2012–13,2014–15 and three times in a row in2017–18,2018–19 and2019–20.^[10] In2020–21, they lost in the final to Canterbury by 4 wickets, despite a hat-trick from Wellington bowlerAmelia Kerr, and Wellington batterSophie Devine ending the season as the tournament's leading run-scorer.^[11][12] They regained their title in2021–22, however, going unbeaten in the group stage before beatingOtago Sparks in the final by 75 runs.^[13][14]

Wellington's primary home ground from their first match in 1937 until the 1950s wasBasin Reserve, and they began using the ground consistently again from 2014. In between these periods, Wellington used grounds such as Kilbirnie Park inWellington, Te Whiti Park inLower Hutt and Petone Recreation Ground, also in Lower Hutt.^[5][9][10]

From the 2000s, Wellington began usingKarori Park, Wellington, as well asTrentham Memorial Park,Upper Hutt. In 2021–22, they played most of their matches at Basin Reserve, as well as two at Karori Park. In 2022–23, they played most of their matches at Basin Reserve, as well as two atHutt Recreation Ground.^[9][10]

Based on squad for the 2023–24 season. Players inbold have international caps.^[15]

No.	Name	Nationality	Birth date	Batting style	Bowling style	Notes
Batters
18	Georgia Plimmer	New Zealand	(2004-02-08)8 February 2004 (age 21)	Right-handed	Right-armmedium
28	Caitlin King	New Zealand	(1996-09-05)5 September 1996 (age 29)	Right-handed	Right armmedium
30	Rebecca Burns	New Zealand	(1994-09-30)30 September 1994 (age 31)	Right-handed	Right-armoff break
All-rounders
48	Amelia Kerr	New Zealand	(2000-10-13)13 October 2000 (age 25)	Right-handed	Right-armleg break	T20 Captain
62	Leigh Kasperek	New Zealand	(1992-02-15)15 February 1992 (age 33)	Right-handed	Right-armoff break	One-Day Captain
77	Sophie Devine	New Zealand	(1989-09-01)1 September 1989 (age 36)	Right-handed	Right-armmedium
Wicket-keepers
1	Gemma Sims	New Zealand	(2001-07-27)27 July 2001 (age 24)	Right-handed	–
5	Jess McFadyen	New Zealand	(1991-10-05)5 October 1991 (age 34)	Right-handed	—
15	Antonia Hamilton	New Zealand	(2004-04-15)15 April 2004 (age 21)	Right-handed	Right-armmedium
Bowlers
3	Natasha Codyre	New Zealand	(2003-10-29)29 October 2003 (age 22)	Right-handed	Right-armmedium
12	Xara Jetly	New Zealand	(2001-08-29)29 August 2001 (age 24)	Right-handed	Right-armoff break
14	Nicole Baird	New Zealand	(1993-08-06)6 August 1993 (age 32)	Right-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox
19	Kate Chandler	New Zealand	(2006-11-02)2 November 2006 (age 19)	Right-handed	Right-armleg break
23	Phoenix Williams	New Zealand	(1998-12-20)20 December 1998 (age 27)	Right-handed	Right-armmedium
24	Jess Kerr	New Zealand	(1998-01-18)18 January 1998 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right armmedium
55	Hannah Francis	New Zealand	(2006-02-04)4 February 2006 (age 20)	Right-handed	Right-armmedium
58	Monique Rees	New Zealand	(2000-09-29)29 September 2000 (age 25)	Right-handed	Right-armmedium

Players who have played for Wellington and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):^[16]

• Head Coach:Lance Dry^[17]
• Batting Coach:Luke Woodcock^[17]

• Hallyburton Johnstone Shield:
  • Winners (17): 1935–36, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1989–90,2022–23;shared (1): 2003–04
• Women's Super Smash:
  • Winners (10):2008–09,2012–13,2014–15,2017–18,2018–19,2019–20,2021–22,2023–24,2024–25,2025–26

• Wellington cricket team

• Women's cricket teams in New Zealand
• Cricket in Wellington
• Super Smash (women's cricket)

• Use dmy dates from June 2020
• Use New Zealand English from June 2020
• All Wikipedia articles written in New Zealand English
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata