Club History

Since its establishment, the club has clearly become the strongest in Wellington. The Royal Visit Cup is awarded to the Club scoring the most championship points in the season and has been won by the Club 24 times. The Club fields 20+ senior teams and 30= junior teams.

In this period of more than 100 years, the 3 clubs have produced 29 New Zealand cricketers, as well as scores of Wellington players. Of these, the undoubted top man was the Club’s former patron, the late Eric Tindill. As well as being the only person to have played in test matches for New Zealand in both rugby and cricket, he officiated as umpire or referee in tests in both codes and acted as Wellington selector. Other outstanding players range from Blacklock and Upham, who were amongst New Zealand’s earliest representatives, to Barry Sinclair who captained New Zealand, Bruce Edgar, Wellington’s highest run scorer as well as most successful opening batsman for New Zealand, and Stephen Fleming ONZM former captain of New Zealand from 1996 to 2008. Stephen was known for his astute tactical abilities, he is New Zealand’s 2nd most capped test player with 111 appearances, the longest-serving and most successful captain, having led the side to 28 victories and having won Test match series against India, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe. He retired from international cricket on 26 March 2008. The club’s last New Zealand Black Cap player was Jeetan Patel. Jeetan was a right-arm off-spin bowler. Prominent administrators include Jack Phillips, Harold Osbourne, Nigel Gini, and Wellington and former New Zealand selector Don Neely MNZM MBE (a former President of New Zealand Cricket).

Over the history of the Club, it has been extremely successful. Midland have been Senior Champions on 27 occasions, 3 while playing as Easts when district cricket was introduced before World War 1, Kilbirnie on 18 occasions, and St Pat's, MSP or Eastern Suburbs on a further 4. Since amalgamation, the Club has won the Royal Visit Cup for the club with the highest number of points in every season but three. The Easts Premier team have won the PEARCE CUP 16 times. The Club’s home ground and clubrooms are at Kilbirnie Park, situated near the airport and adjacent to the Wellington suburbs of Hataitai and Kilbirnie.