New Zealand’s Christmas and New Year holiday season will once again be jam-packed with explosive T20 action, this time with a new name and partner.
The Burger King Super Smash will again focus on the festive part of the summer, beginning at a slightly later date of 13 December and culminating in a final on 20 January.
The 2017-18 Burger King Super Smash will include:
- A total of 32 matches; 30 round robin matches, an elimination playoff between 2nd & 3rd, and the Final
- The competition will be played across 11 different venues between Invercargill and Auckland
- SKY Sport will broadcast 15 of the matches, including both the elimination match and Final
- There will be live commentary of 15 matches on radio sport, while all matches will be live-scored on supersmash.co.nz
New Zealand Cricket’s CEO, David White, said the public had made it clear what the best window for the shortest format was.
“We made some changes to our T20 competition last year and the feedback we received was really positive,” said White.
“The popularity of the games being played over the Christmas and New Year period really shone through, so you can expect to see even more of that this season.
“The atmosphere and quality of cricket played in 2016-17 was exceptional and we want to use that momentum coming into this year’s competition.”
White added that Burger King’s enthusiasm in helping to promote T20 cricket was a huge asset of the new partnership.
“Obviously they have a significant profile which stretches across New Zealand, so their involvement is going to be hugely valuable and we’re lucky to have them on board.”
James Woodbridge, BK’s GM-Marketing believes the brands involvement can elevate the competition to a new level, leveraging off the learnings from Joseph Parkers “Road to the Title” campaign.
“The competition has all the ingredients to engage main stream NZ in a similar vein to other high profile Twenty20 competitions around the world. We’re very excited about the opportunity to bring summer to life with the Burger King Super Smash”
The women’s domestic schedule and remainder of the men’s domestic schedule will be released in the coming days.
Full Burger King Super Smash schedule: