PRIDE ROUND: Auckland Cricket To Celebrate Rainbow Community For Final Round Of Super SmashThursday 18 January, 2024

For the final round of Super Smash home matches at Eden Park, Auckland Cricket will host a ‘Pride Round’, with the goal of celebrating and raising awareness for Auckland’s rainbow community.

Cricket in New Zealand (NZC) and Auckland (ACA) attaches itself to the mission of being ‘A Game for All New Zealanders’.

With this mission in mind, a round that raises awareness and understanding towards the message of inclusiveness is directly aligned with our values.

“Our Dream11 Super Smash home games give us the opportunity to promote things that we are passionate about and that’s why we are really excited about our Pride Round this weekend,” says Auckland Cricket CEO Iain Laxon.

“Making our game a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone is a big part of what we do and our Pride Round highlights that intent for our Rainbow community.

“We are really looking forward to making it a great day for everyone and celebrating everything that is great about our Rainbow Community.”

The matches, which feature the Auckland HEARTS & ACES taking on the Northern Brave Men & Women, will feature a number of initiatives highlighting the visual identity of the rainbow community.

Rainbow colours will be on full display around Eden Park as well as being featured on-field through rainbow bat grips, shoelaces and hair ribbons.

Additionally, rainbow face paint will be available for members of the crowd to join in the celebration.

The PRIDE movement itself focuses on raising awareness for diversity, with a key focus on the LGBTQIA+ community.

Our chosen date of the 20th of January, the last Super Smash round robin match played in Auckland, takes place less than two weeks before Auckland Pride month begins on the 1st of February.

Super Smash Pride Round

Auckland HEARTS vs. Northern Brave (W), 12:30pm

Auckland ACES vs. Northern Brave (M), 4:00pm

Saturday 20th January, 2024

Eden Park, Auckland

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