Wairarapa cricket team
The Wairarapa cricket team represents the Wairarapa region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the 21 teams from around New Zealand that compete in the Hawke Cup. Its base is in Masterton. Early history Cricket has been played in the region since the mid-1860s. Festivities at Greytown on New Year's Day 1867 included men's and women's cricket matches – the first known instance of women's cricket in New Zealand. The Greytown Cricket Club was formed later that year. The first Wairarapa Cricket Association was formed in the 1870s, based in Greytown. A second Wairarapa Cricket Association was formed in the late 1880s, based in Carterton, and not including Greytown. The current Wairarapa Cricket Association was formed in 1894, with seven clubs under a handicap system: Masterton and Greytown each fielded 11 players in a match, Carterton and Eketahuna had 13, Featherston, Matarawa, Greytown 2nd XI and Masterton 2nd XI had 15, and Morrison's Bush 16. The Association's inaugural president was the politician W. C. Buchanan. The first century in the competition was by Charlie Perry, who scored 110 for Midland (a Masterton team) against Greytown in February 1899. The first visit by an overseas touring