{"id":236170,"date":"2026-01-16T10:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/236170\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T10:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:13:08","slug":"black-clash-2026-players-visit-tauranga-hospital-ahead-of-bay-oval-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/236170\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Clash 2026: Players visit Tauranga Hospital ahead of Bay Oval showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

He thought Team Cricket would come out on top at the Black Clash<\/a>, however. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve had a bit more experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of the rugby players get hurt bashing into each other trying to get the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Cricket tops the Black Clash leaderboard with five wins compared to Team Rugby\u2019s two victories in the annual showdown.<\/p>\n

All Blacks legend Kieran Read<\/a> captains Team Rugby and former Black Caps bowler Nathan McCullum heads Team Cricket.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Clash players and MPs visiting some of the patients in Tauranga Hospital’s children’s ward. Photo \/ Bijou Johnson<\/p>\n

Former Wales rugby player Hadleigh Parkes<\/a> was a late addition to Team Cricket this week, previously announced as a Team Rugby player.<\/p>\n

He was swapped with former Black Caps bowler Tim Southee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only found out a week ago,\u201d said Parkes, who had been hurriedly brushing up on his bowling skills.<\/p>\n

He said he grew up watching a lot of Team Cricket\u2019s players, so it was cool to join their team.<\/p>\n

Being a rugby player by trade, playing for Team Cricket \u201ctakes a bit of pressure off\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just awesome to be involved,\u201d Parkes said.<\/p>\n

\" Team Cricket’s Grant Elliott (left) and William Waiirua (centre) chatted to twin brothers Daniel and Aiden and their mum at Tauranga Hospital, with Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell (right). Photo \/ Bijou Johnson<\/p>\n

Team Cricket\u2019s wildcard player, entertainer William Waiirua<\/a>, said he convinced a couple of the kids to support Team Cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to watch all the players on TV, so to be able to rub shoulders with the big guns is pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

He planned on talking a big game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been practising nearly every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other changes to the team lists for Saturday\u2019s match include former Team Cricket captain Dan Vettori withdrawing, and Team Rugby\u2019s Shane Watson<\/a> and Ruben Love stepping out because of injuries.<\/p>\n

\"TeamTeam Rugby’s Colin Slade and Kieran Read celebrating a wicket at the 2025 Black Clash. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Tickets were 90% sold. Ticket information can be found at blackclash.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bay Oval has had a busy summer packed with cricket<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A three-match T20 series against Australia<\/a> kicked the season off in October, followed by an ODI against England and a test against the West Indies. <\/p>\n

A South Africa double-header with the Black Caps and White Ferns is still to come in March.<\/p>\n

2026 Black Clash confirmed players<\/p>\n

TEAM CRICKET<\/p>\n

Nathan McCullum (captain), Grant Elliott, Kyle Mills, Adam Parore, Lou Vincent, Hadleigh Parkes, Neil Wagner, Hamish Marshall, Jesse Ryder, Neil Broom, William Waiirua.<\/p>\n

TEAM RUGBY<\/p>\n

Kieran Read (captain), David Hill, Jordie Barrett, Kaylum Boshier, Joey Wheeler, Payton Spencer, Andy Ellis, Jason Spice, Colin Slade, Ofisa Tonu\u2019u, Tim Southee, Mike Hussey.<\/p>\n

Bijou Johnson<\/a> is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He thought Team Cricket would come out on top at the Black Clash, however. \u201cI think they\u2019ve had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,3017,25810,70274,1561,7022,1061,3019,16558,8223,2241,19755,111,139,69,1118,1532,10702,6327,30948,213,1227,7187,165,1865,9863],"class_list":["post-236170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-ahead","tag-aside","tag-bats","tag-bay","tag-black","tag-children","tag-clash","tag-cricket","tag-forces","tag-hospital","tag-join","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-oval","tag-players","tag-rugby","tag-showdown","tag-sports","tag-tauranga","tag-team","tag-their","tag-today","tag-visit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}