Back to back Twenty20 Doubleheaders at Pukekura Park

New Plymouth is in for a double dose of Twenty20 action this summer with Pukekura Park hosting Dream11 Super Smash double-headers on December 27 and 28.

The back-to-back men’s and women’s double-header match days will see the Central Hinds and the Central Stags play their counterparts from Wellington, then Auckland.

Pukekura Park fixtures are always enjoyable for players, according to Central Stags captain Tom Bruce.

“It’s one of the most spectacular grounds in the country, if not the world. It’s like an ampitheatre, you hear the crowd when you are out on the field and I know everyone loves playing here. We’re looking for bumper crowds and hopefully we can put on a good spectacle”, he said.

The defending champion Stags begin their title defence on Friday night in Napier against the Knights, a repeat of the Grand Final from the last two seasons.

“It’s always a tough match against the Knights. We’ve met in the final two years in a row so we have got a pretty good rivalry against them. Both teams want to start the competition well and I think we’ll see some fireworks over at McLean Park”

The Dream11 Super Smash is boosted by an international injection this season. With the BLACKCAPS Test team on tour in Australia, the competition includes WHITE FERNS and BLACKCAPS white ball stars throughout.

With so many quality players on show, Bruce believes the competition will be strong. “Every team brings threats across the table. Each game is going to be a challenge which bodes well for New Zealand cricket”.

The Stags have no plans to change their game plan which has proved successful for the last few seasons.

“We tend to be quite aggressive with both bat and ball. We’ve got a game plan that has been working for us so we just need to consistently play to our strengths. At the end of the day, Twenty20 is 120 balls to score as many as you can. We are going to be trying to hit it over the rope”.

Tickets are now available to purchase at ticketek.co.nz and Central Districts Cricket Association has a range of membership packages available.