Established in 1950, Central Districts Cricket Association is one of the six first-class cricket associations affiliated to New Zealand Cricket. CDCA represents a wide geographic area covering most of the lower half of the North Island and the top of the South Island. It is the only NZ association to represent both the main islands, and is made up of eight District Associations – Hawke's Bay, Manawatū, Wairarapa, Horowhenua-Kāpiti, Whanganui, Taranaki, Nelson and Marlborough. These eight Districts provide Community cricket — club and schools cricket, as well as junior development programmes within their region, while CDCA manages the framework and High Performance pathway that leads to National Schools, Domestic and International representation. CDCA fielded its first men’s representative team in the first-class Plunket Shield in 1950. The Central Hinds were established in 1979. In 1992, the former governing body of the women's game, the New Zealand Women’s Cricket Council, merged with NZC, bringing women’s and men's teams under the same administrative structure for the first time and further developing the pathway to representative honours.