A Hawke's Bay cricket team, representing Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, played first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 between 1883–84 and 1920–21, competing in the Plunket Shield in the 1914-15 and 1920–21 seasons. The side continued to appear in minor cricket thereafter and they now compete in the Hawke Cup

Hawke Cup

The Hawke Cup is a cricket competition for New Zealand's District Associations. Apart from 1910/11, 1912/13 and 2000/01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. In order to win the Hawke Cup the challenger must beat the holder on their home ground...

 competition.

In their first match at first-class level, against Wellington at the Basin Reserve

Basin Reserve

The Basin Reserve , is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand, used for Test, first-class and one-day cricket. Some argue that its proximity to the city, its Historic Place status and its age make it the most famous cricket ground in New Zealand...

 in February 1884, Hawke's Bay were dismissed for just 32 in their second innings thanks to Joseph Firth

Joseph Firth

Joseph "Pentland" Firth CMG was a New Zealand educationalist and teacher. Known as The Boss, he was the headmaster of Wellington College from 1892 to 1920...

's remarkable return of 8/13 from 13 four-ball overs.