Canterbury Magicians

The Canterbury Magicians is the women's representative cricket team for the New Zealand region of Canterbury. They play their home games at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition and the Women's Super Smash Twenty20 competition. They are the most successful side in the history of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, with 39 title wins. History Canterbury played their first recorded match in 1932, against Otago, which they won by five runs. They played in their first Hallyburton Johnstone Challenge Shield in 1938–39, where they lost to Wellington. After another failed attempt at winning the Challenge Shield a year later, they were victorious at their next attempt, in 1943–44, beating Auckland and Wellington. They defended their title in both of the next two tournaments. Over the next twenty-five years, Canterbury added five Shield titles to their honours: in 1955–56, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1963–64 and 1966–67. Canterbury were victorious two more times in the early 1970s, before becoming the dominant force in the country from the 1978–79 season: they won 20 out of 21 titles between 1978–79 and 1998–99, only missing out in 1989–90, when they came second to Wellington. In 1962–63, Canterbury competed in the Australian Women's Cricket Championships. Following their period of domination, they finished second to Auckland four times in a row before regaining the title in 2003–04, shared with Wellington as the final was rained-off. The won the title outright the following season, and three times in a row between 2006–07 and 2008–09. Wins came again in 2010–11, 2012–13, 2016–17 and most recently in 2020–21 with captain Frances Mackay hitting 94* to lead them to victory over Auckland. They are the most successful side in the history of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, with 39 title wins.