India Return to Auckland After 100 Years: Slumberzone Centenary Cup Dates and Times Confirmed
A hundred years after India’s first hockey tour to New Zealand, the two countries are marking it properly.
The series is now called the Slumberzone Centenary Hockey Cup, Auckland 2026. Three matches, all at Lloyd Elsmore Park, and all against the team that has spent a century shaping the sport India fell in love with.
The first match is Thursday 19 November at 6:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. PKT). The second match is Saturday 21 November at 4 p.m. (8 a.m. PKT). The third match is Sunday 22 November at 2 p.m. (6 a.m. PKT). India’s first tour to New Zealand was in 1926. This one is the centenary.
New Zealand have named a 20-man squad for the series, and there are five new faces in the wider group: Dean Clarkson, Javahn Jones, Sam Lints, Tim Greenwood and Zander Fraser. The rest of the group is built around experience, with Aidan Sarikaya, Nic Woods, Scott Cosslett and goalkeeper Richard Joyce among the names. The Black Sticks will want this one. A home series against India, in a centenary year, doesn’t come around twice.
India’s squad isn’t final yet. Coach Craig Fulton said on 2 November that it would be announced in the coming days, and that India are also building a new-look group for the 2027-28 Pro League cycle. Expect a few fresh faces of their own.
There’s more around the matches than the matches themselves. The New Zealand Defence Force play curtain-raisers on each of the three days. On the Saturday, the New Zealand Indian Sports Association men’s team play the touring Indian Defence Force team at 1:30 p.m., with a kabaddi exhibition alongside it. Earlybird tickets have already sold out, and adult Saturday tickets start from $27.50.
New Zealand’s domestic season is running in parallel. Thirty-two Black Sticks, 16 men and 16 women, are playing in the Premier Hockey League alongside 11 international guest players and 22 emerging players from the Junior Hockey League. The PHL Grand Final is in Christchurch on Saturday 12 December, the first time the finals weekend has been held there.
Three matches, a hundred years of history, and a full house expected. Auckland is in for a good week.
