International Cricket is back for the summer at Bay Oval. Get set for another thrilling season of international cricket, with three of the world’s leading cricket nations – India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – heading to Bay Oval across the 2026/27 season.

We kick off the start of the new cricket season with another of our occasional 'Catching Up With' pieces on the Bay Oval website. In this edition we chat with a man who probably knows the Bay Oval like no other cricketer.

Accolades have been flowing for Bharat Popli, who announced his retirement from a sterling career in first-class and minor association cricket in late June 2026.

Tom Latham and Devon Conway Rewrote the Record Book at the Bay Oval. ICC test records that will sit in cricket history forever were produced from just the sixth test match played at the Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui, against the West Indies in December 2025.

A double-header between the BLACKCAPS and WHITE FERNS against their South African counterparts ended a busy international season, where Australia, England, West Indies and South Africa all played at the Bay Oval.

When the first sod of the new Bay Oval was turned on the 1st March 2005, Twenty 20 Cricket was seen in New Zealand as a light-hearted, entertaining spectacle rather than a serious sport.

The New Zealand opening pair, of South African-born Devon Conway and skipper Tom Latham, dominated the first day's play between New Zealand's Black Caps and the West Indies on December 18, 2025.

New Zealand will enter the third test with the West Indies at the Bay Oval on Thursday, 18th December 2025, with a batting attack that has hard knowledge of how to score runs on the Western Bay ground.

Few cricket fans would have picked the spectacular start that the Black Caps made when they met England in the first ODI of the series at the Bay Oval on Labour weekend Sunday (26th October 2025).

Two centuries, in the two completed Chappell Hadlee T20 International series games played at the Bay Oval in early October 2025, enhanced the ground's reputation as a platform for batting success.

Finally, the Australian men's cricket team will make a long-awaited visit to the Bay Oval, after an eleven-year wait, playing a three-match T20 series in the October school holidays.

This of “Catching Up With” shines the spotlight on one of the rising stars of New Zealand Women’s Cricket. Brittany Jenkins, who lives close to the Bay Oval in Tauranga City, was named the ND Young Female Player of the Year at the 2024/25 ND Annual Awards night.

Bay Oval is shaping up for its “biggest summer of cricket” with seven international matches booked for the upcoming season. It will host New Zealand’s international season-opener with a three-match T20 series in the October school holidays – the oval's first time hosting Australia.

This mid-winter edition of “Catching Up With” sees us talking with umpire Brent 'Billy' Bowden. Billy has become a permanent fixture in the International umpires' ranks since standing in his first ODI in1995.

We start with the annual catch-up with Jared Carter, who plays the pivotal role in providing the outstanding playing surfaces and training facilities in his position as the Bay Oval Turf Manager.

For the second season in a row, a Plunket Shield match between Northern Districts and Central Districts at the Bay Oval hit the headlines, with two rare as hen's teeth performances.

Anzac Day (25 March) 2025 will see the Bay Oval become a Super Rugby Pacific venue, for a day, when the Gallagher Chiefs host the Western Force who will travel from Perth in Western Australia, to play the local heroes. 

It doesn't get much better than a Black Cap/White Ferns double-header at the Bay Oval to whet the appetite of Kiwi cricket fans.

The January results edition of 'Who Won & Lost at the Bay Oval' features the season's only NZC Super Smash encounter at the Bay Oval, between the ND Brave Men’s and Women's teams and their Otago counterparts.

Sri Lankan cricket fans at the first T20 International between the New Zealand Black Caps, were reminded of the adage 'never count your chickens until they hatch', when the visitors twice seemed to have victory well within their sights.

There is likely to be some smiles on display, when the Sri Lankan cricket team walks into their Bay Oval dressing room, before engaging with the New Zealand Black Caps on the 28th December 2024 - when they see the two Sri Lankan names on the visitor’s honours board.

Bay Oval action in November 2024 saw two Honours Board new additions courtesy of two NZC Women's Major Association Hallyburton Johnstone Shield fixtures and the start of the Bay of Plenty senior team 13 match campaign.

It was fitting that Peter Drysdale should bring up four thousand NZC Minor Association runs, at the Bay Oval, when he posted Bay of Plenty's top score of 75, against Northland on the first weekend in November 2024.

Three NZC Major Association games kicked of the Bay Oval 2024-25 representative season, when the Auckland Aces paid a weeklong visit to Mount Maunganui, at the end of October 2024.

The start of spring is an ideal time in our “Catching up With” series to chat with Bay Oval Turf Manager, Jared Carter, the man who directs the ground operations at the Bay Oval.

The last time we talked to Graeme (the former ND player and coach) he was in the middle of the Covid lockdown in 2020. In this edition of “Catching Up With” we find out what G has been up to in the last four cricket seasons.

Two Bay of Plenty cricket players who call the Bay Oval home had plenty to celebrate when the new 2014-15 Northern Districts professional player contracts were announced in mid-July.

We chat with James Pamment, a well-known name in the T20 coaching ranks around the globe. Yorkshire-born and now long-time Western Bay of Plenty resident (when he's at home), James has become a fixture with the Mumbai Indians since joining them in 2018.

This time we talk with Aaron Meek, who was a stalwart of the Mount Maunganui Cricket Club in his time in the Western Bay, and is the regular face of the Dressing Rooms at the Bay Oval when international teams stop off in the Western Bay of Plenty.

The Bay Oval's reputation as an international playing field that produces plenty of runs, while also giving bowlers the opportunity to weave their craft with bountiful results, continued in the 2023-24 season.

Bay Oval season roundup of international, major and minor domestic matches.

Catching up with Catherine Campbell, lovingly better known as Mrs Whippy.

Big crowds, balmy sunshine - and soon Tauranga cricket fans will have world-class cricket facilities to match their world-class ground.

Test series between New Zealand and South Africa will now be played for the Tangiwai Shield.

Catching up with umpire Christelle High, who has been seen in action in televised NZC Dream 11 Super Smash games this season.

The Bay Oval continued its 2023-24 major hosting assignments on the 9th and 10th of December 2023.

Bangladesh provided one of the biggest upsets in ICC test cricket the last time that they visited the Bay Oval, in January 2022.

The country's newest international ground and the traditions of the game will come together at the Bay Oval, on four occasions this summer.

The lazy hazy days of summer should bring cricket fans in their hundreds to the Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui, in the middle of the summer holiday break.

Bay Oval cricket fans, will welcome two international teams and the return of the hugely popular Black Clash to the Western Bay of Plenty Cricket ground, in the fast approaching 2023-24 cricket season.

The Bay Oval is likely to be the only international cricket ground in the country, where genuine grassroots players have the opportunity of playing on a world class wicket, once a season.

Big numbers again took centre stage at the Bay Oval, when Northern Districts hosted Central Districts in a time-honored NZC Plunket Shield match.

Bay of Plenty cricket fans can’t wait for England to make their third appearance at the Bay Oval, when they arrive to go into a head to head battle with their Black Cap counterparts, in the fourth test match to be staged at the Western Bay of Plenty international cricket venue.

A Bay of Plenty batsman, who has belted five centuries at the Bay Oval, has become the first Bay player to score over four thousand runs for his province.

Northern Districts Women’s opening batter Caitlin Gurrey, obliterated the highest score by a women’s player at the Bay Oval, just a week before Christmas 2022.

Welcome back to HOT SHOTS @ the BAY OVAL which is a column that looks back at the Black Caps and White Ferns at the Bay Oval, as we head into the business end of the 2022-23 season.