Domestic cricket in New Zealand, like in so many of the test playing countries, gets comparatively low billing compared to the national side. The state championships have much few matches than the English equivalents. Two major competitions are contested in New Zealand. These are the State Championship (4 day league) and the State Shield (one day league). In the State Shield, a league system is played so that each team plays the others twice. Once these games have been played, the 2nd and 3rd placed teams play-off in a semi-final for the right to meet the 1st placed team in a final. This meant that in 2003-4, the 2nd placed team (Northern Districts) won the competition after beating Canterbury in the final.
State Championship: Final Table 2003/04 PHP Code:
Team Played Points
Wellington 8 24
Canterbury 8 22
Otago 8 20
Auckland 8 16
Central Districts 8 13
Northern Districts 8 6
State Shield: Final Table 2003/04 PHP Code:
Team Played W L NR Bonus Pts Net-RR
Canterbury 10 6 2 2 2 30 +0.504
Central Districts 10 5 2 3 1 27 +0.314
Auckland 10 4 3 3 2 24 +0.346
Wellington 10 4 4 2 1 21 -0.146
Otago 10 4 5 1 0 18 -0.231
Northern Districts 10 1 8 1 0 6 -0.585
Central Districts won the Semi-Final against Auckland by 3 wickets
Central Districts won the Final against Canterbury by 99 runs thanks to Craig Spearman's 85 off 48 balls. Spearman took 30 runs off one Paul Wiseman over!