Counties Manukau will challenge for the famous Hawke Cup in a fortnight and will find out who their opponent is after this weekend’s contest between Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu.

The winner will face Counties Manukau a week later, after the local side topped the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl standings (contested between Hamilton, Waikato Valley, Northland and Bay of Plenty) to earn the opportunity.

“It’s huge,” said skipper Sam Varcoe. “We’ve got such a good district. Winning the Fergus Hickey to even earn the challenge is tough to do. So, being able to get the challenge itself is awesome – to know that we’ve had that success there.

“It is also the best trophy for an amateur that you can win in cricket. It’s the Ranfurly Shield of cricket. So for the district, we always love to get an opportunity at it.

“It’s been, I think, five years now since we last played a Hawke Cup game so we’re absolutely fizzing to get in there and hopefully put a performance together.”