The Hallyburton Johnstone Shield is the premier domestic women's one-day cricket competition in New Zealand. The tournament began in 1935âÂÂ36, as a first-class competition, but is now played as a 50-over competition, with six provincial teams taking part: Auckland, Canterbury, Central Districts, Northern Districts, Otago and Wellington. The tournament now runs alongside the Twenty20 Women's Super Smash.
The most successful side in the history of the competition are Canterbury, with 38 outright title wins and 1 shared title. The current holders are Otago, who beat Auckland in the final of the 2024âÂÂ25 season.
The tournament began in 1935âÂÂ36 as the Hallyburton Johnstone Challenge Shield, after the interest generated from England's tour of New Zealand in 1934âÂÂ35. Hallyburton Johnstone, from Auckland, gave a trophy to Auckland and any other team was allowed to challenge them for the title. The first match was played in February 1936, with Wellington beating Auckland by 10 wickets.
From then until 1945âÂÂ46, the tournament was played on a "challenge basis", with teams challenging the holders of the title. In 1946âÂÂ47 the tournament was played as a round-robin tournament and renamed simply the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, with 4 teams competing: Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago. Matches at this point were mainly 2-day games, with some years using 3- or 4-day matches. North Shore joined the competition in 1965âÂÂ66 and Central Districts in 1979âÂÂ80. In 1981âÂÂ82, they played 60-over matches as preparation for the World Cup that year.
In 1982âÂÂ83 the tournament was renamed the Hansells Cup. In 1983âÂÂ84, Southern Districts replaced Otago for five seasons, and then afterwards the tournament went back to 5 teams competing. In 1990âÂÂ91, the tournament was renamed the Pub Charities National Tournament and from onwards matches have always been 50-over games. Canterbury dominated this period, winning 20 out of 21 titles between 1978âÂÂ79 and 1998âÂÂ99.
In this period, various new teams competed: Canterbury B played for two seasons in 1990âÂÂ91 and 1991âÂÂ92 before being replaced by a Pub Charities XI for four seasons. North Shore were replaced by North Harbour in 1990âÂÂ91, who competed until 1993âÂÂ94. In 1992âÂÂ93, a final was added for the top two teams in the group stage: prior to this, the winner of the group was the overall winner.
From , the tournament became the State Insurance Cup, and then the State League from 2001âÂÂ02 to 2008âÂÂ09. The competition was named the Action Cricket Cup in 2010âÂÂ11 and 2011âÂÂ12 and the New Zealand Women's One-Day Competition between 2012âÂÂ13 and 2016âÂÂ17. From the tournament name reverted to the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield.
From , the Twenty20 Super Smash began, and games from both tournaments were often played over the same weekend.
Canterbury (39 titles), Auckland (20 titles) and Wellington (18 titles) have been the most dominant sides in the history of the competition. North Shore won 3 titles between 1968âÂÂ69 and 1971âÂÂ72 and Central Districts have also won 3 titles, with their first coming in 2005âÂÂ06. Otago have won four titles, in 1964âÂÂ65, 2013âÂÂ14, 2021âÂÂ22 and 2023âÂÂ24.
The Canterbury and Wellington totals include one shared title.