New Zealand Cricket have announced their plans of organizing a week-long, nationwide parade with the ICC World Test Championship mace. The Blackcaps became the winners of the inaugural edition of the competition by beating India in the final.
Kane Williamson & Co. defeated India by 8-wickets at the Rose Bowl to get their hands on the coveted trophy. The Kiwi fans have been vocal about their desire of attending a trophy parade, but COVID-related quarantine protocols to be adhered to, a parade looked uncertain until recently.
The parade will start on 26th July and will last a week. It will commence from Whangarei, the northernmost city in New Zealand, and will end at Invercargill, the country’s southernmost city. Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch are the cities where the parade will make a pitstop.
As for the players, barring four players, every member of the trophy-winning squad will be seen in the parade. Those four players are Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Devon Conway and skipper Williamson himself. The quartet have stayed back in England, where they are currently playing in the County Championship and T20 Blast, and will soon be seen at The Hundred.
“This is just as much a chance for our Black Caps to say thank you to New Zealanders as anything else, and for NZC to express its gratitude to the country for creating an environment in which this was even possible,”
David White, New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive, said according to Cricbuzz.
“We’ve tried to cover as much of the country as possible in a week to give the maximum number of people the chance to participate.
I know some regions will be disappointed to miss out but I can assure them there’ll be further opportunities as we head towards our home international summer and that we’ll make a point of including as much of the country as realistically possible,”.
he added
The New Zealand squad is currently in isolation at Southampton, where they will stay till July 10. This is the Blackcaps’ biggest triumph in international cricket since their ICC KnockOut Trophy win in 2000, where incidentally, they defeated India in the final.
