Darwin in The Voyage of the Beagle wrote:[4] several young men redeemed by the missionaires from slavery were employed on the farm.

On 15–17 February 1894 the first team representing New Zealand played New South Wales at Lancaster Park in Christchurch.

New Zealand played its first two internationals (not Tests) in 1904–05 against a star-studded Australia team containing such players as Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong and Clem Hill.

For most of this period NZ lacked a class bowler to lead their attack although they had 2 excellent batsmen in Glenn Turner and Bert Sutcliffe and a great all-rounder in John R. Reid.

During the 1980s NZ also had the services of one of its best ever batsman, Martin Crowe and a number of good players such as John Wright, Bruce Edgar, John F. Reid, Andrew Jones, Geoff Howarth, Jeremy Coney, Ian Smith, John Bracewell, Lance Cairns, Stephen Boock, and Ewen Chatfield, who were capable of playing the occasional match winning performance and consistently making a valuable contribution to a Test match.

The Australian umpires ruled the move as legal even though to this day many believe it was one of the most unsporting decisions made in cricket.

Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan also scored plenty of runs for New Zealand, but both retired earlier than expected.

Daniel Vettori made his debut as an 18-year-old in 1997, and when he took over from Fleming as captain in 2007 he was regarded as the best spinning allrounder in world cricket.

On 26 August 2009, Daniel Vettori became the eighth player and second left-arm bowler (after Chaminda Vaas) in history to take 300 wickets and score 3000 test runs, joining the illustrious club.

The BCCI managed to convince other boards not to pick players who had joined the rival Twenty-20 Indian Cricket League.

NZ Cricket lost the services of Shane Bond, Lou Vincent, Andre Adams, Hamish Marshall and Daryl Tuffey.

New Zealand lifted the 'Mace' in 2021 defeating India by 8 wickets in the final played at Rose bowl cricket ground in Southam-pton.

Their greatest success in one-day cricket was when they won the 2000 World Cup under captain Emily Drumm.

John Wright, former NZ opening batsman, was appointed acting high performance manager for NZC in November 2007.

[13][14] According to Mark O'Neill, New Zealand's batting coach from 2007 to 2009, the competition at club level in NZ is nowhere near as intense as in Australia.

Host nations pick up all the expenses of touring teams, but get sole access to all broadcast rights and gate receipts.

In November 2007 it was announced that NZC had made a 5-year deal for the broadcasting rights to home internationals for NZ$65.4m with Sony Entertainment Television.

In November 2017, Star Sports acquired the broadcast and digital rights for New Zealand Cricket for all men's and women's international matches being organised in the country till April 2020 for the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

[23] In 2009, Dan Carter, the most valuable New Zealand rugby player, was estimated to earn between $700,000 and $900,000 a year (including endorsements).

[21] By 2014[24] and even more so by 2016, cricketers were dropping down the New Zealand Herald sporting rich list as Rugby players and other sportsmen and women got more lucrative overseas contracts.

Justin Vaughan former NZ Cricket CEO, perhaps with one eye on the legal ramifications, did not use the "b" word but preferred terms such as; "the selectors will be encouraged to consider other players", or "overlooked for selection".

However, NZC decided to "overlook Bond for selection" because all members of the International Cricket Council had agreed not to pick players who have signed for the rebel leagues.

In September 1977, Tony Greig, Mike Procter and John Snow with support from Kerry Packer contested the bans they had been subjected to by the TCCB for playing in World Series Cricket in the English high court.

[28] On 29 January 2008, the New Zealand Herald stated that Bond, who wants to play in the upcoming series against England, and NZ Cricket was released from his NZC contract and will not be chosen on a game-by-game basis.

[29] Heath Mills, the executive manager of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA), was not so conciliatory.

[30] Mills also said : "The NZCPA fully understands the position NZC has found itself and we do not want them to damage relationships with the BCCI and other ICC members.

The NZCPA supports this decision as it enables him to preserve a strong relationship with the board of NZC in the hope that he can again contribute to the game in New Zealand at some stage in the future.

We urge the ICC to step in and attempt to influence this situation and find a way to manage third party investment in our sport before we lose more players both here and around the world, and international cricket has been damaged further.

It is absolutely vital that international cricket remains the pinnacle of the sport and that we ensure the best players are playing."

[31] Due to the financial problems as a result of the 2008 'credit crunch', the ICL cancelled part of its schedule, and offered to release the New Zealand players from their contracts, some of whom had not been paid for several months.