Auckland Hearts

The Auckland Hearts are a New Zealand women's cricket team, that plays in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition and the Burger King Super Smash Twenty20 competition.

The first recorded match by an Auckland women's team was in 1935, against the touring England women's cricket team, and despite the Auckland top four all being dismissed for ducks in the first-innings, the game finished a draw.[1] Further matches came against England in 1949, 1957 and 1969. In 1971–72, Auckland were one of five women's teams to compete in the inaugural Hallyburton-Johnstone Shield Tournament. Despite completing the season without an outright win, Auckland claimed two first-innings wins in drawn matches and finished third in the competition.[2]

A new national competition, sponsored by State Insurance, began in the 1998-99 season. Auckland managed to break the 'stranglehold' that Canterbury had held on the women's game in the late 1990s,[3] claiming four straight titles from 1999–2000 to 2002–03, beating Canterbury in the final on each occasion. They also won in 2011-12, 2014–15 and 2015-16.