Chapple Cup Draw Announced
BLACKCAPS and Central Stags legend Ross Taylor faced his most nerve-wracking task of the season as guest conductor of the draw for this month’s Chapple Cup, to be played from November 20-22 in Palmerston North and Levin.
With his Central Stags teammates gathered around - all with firm, longstanding allegiances to their respective District Associations - what would be the reaction as he pulled each name out of the draw to find out whom would be playing whom on the opening day of this year's Chapple Cup?
Hawke's Bay will head into the annual white-ball tournament as defending champion and was one of the first Districts to be drawn, against another recent champion in Taranaki..
That set the stage for plenty of banter that will no doubt continue at the tournament itself.
With this year's tournament being jointly hosted by Manawatū (Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North) and Horowhenua-Kāpiti (Donnelly Park, Levin), the four match-ups were drawn into two venue-based pools with the first-round matches to be played side by side as follows:
POOL A
Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North • round one, from 11am Friday 20 November
- Manawatū v Wairarapa - city block
- Taranaki v Hawke's Bay - river block
Donnelly Park, Levin • round one, from 11am Friday 20 November
- Horowhenua-Kāpiti v Nelson - Donnelly Park No.5
- Whanganui v Marlborough - Donnelly Park No.4
The main draw matches are all one-day contests: the Round Two (Saturday) winners go on to meet in their respective Chapple and Cave Cup Finals on Sunday, while the unsuccessful Round Two teams will finish their tournament by playing T20 matches on the final day.
