Lou Vincent Returns for Black Clash at Hot Spring Spa
Lou Vincent’s redemption tour is heading back to one of New Zealand sport’s most unlikely stages – a hot spring spa and the Black Clash.
The former Black Cap, whose life ban from cricket was lifted in 2025, is set for his third appearance in the celebrity-laced fixture and will join this morning’s show from a Hot Spring Spa pool, a setting as surreal as his return to the game. For a man once exiled from the sport, every outing now feels loaded with meaning. This one, under lights and with cameras rolling, will be no different.
On the other side of the code divide, Walsh returns to a stage he knows well. The rugby star cracked 34 runs in his previous Black Clash outing in 2022 – the last time Team Rugby tasted victory. That innings still lingers as a reminder that the cricketers don’t have a monopoly on timing or power. He will now link up with former All Blacks Kieran Read and Israel Dagg, a trio with enough big-game experience to turn a novelty match into a serious contest the moment the first ball is bowled.
For Neil Wagner, the event offers something more familiar: a cricket field, a ball in hand, and Tim Southee at the helm. Wagner walked away from international cricket in 2024 with 260 Test wickets, fifth on New Zealand’s all-time list, a career built on raw effort and relentless hostility. The Black Clash gives him a different kind of challenge, but the competitive edge never really leaves.
He played in last year’s edition, going for 52 runs from his four overs and not required with the bat. Those numbers will sting a bowler wired like Wagner. Expect him to treat this year’s spell as a chance to restore a little pride, even if the atmosphere leans more festival than Test match.
Southee will again captain Team Cricket, marshalling a side that edged the 2026 contest by just five runs. That narrow margin underlined what the concept has become: not just a novelty run-around, but a game that can tighten in the final overs and drag big names into genuinely tense moments.
Hagley Oval, hosting the event for the fifth time, has grown into the spiritual home of the Black Clash. The ground’s summer calm makes a sharp backdrop to a night that blends high-level skill with pure theatre. It is also a homecoming of sorts for the event itself, a return to Ōtautahi Christchurch, where the concept first took root.
Event director Carlena Limmer is convinced this latest edition will go up another level.
“We’re opening up the opportunity for other athletes to showcase their cricketing prowess on one of the biggest sporting stages of the year,” Limmer said. “It’s going to be fascinating to see who among our nation’s sporting heroes puts their hands up to showcase their – so far – hidden talent and play alongside some of New Zealand’s biggest rugby stars.
“And it’s great to be heading back to Ōtautahi Christchurch – the city where it all began and where the good times continue to roll.”
That’s the hook: which crossover star steps out of their comfort zone next? Who trades a ruck or a sprint lane for a bat and ball and discovers something new in front of a packed Hagley crowd?
The appetite is clearly there. Pre-sale tickets opened on Tuesday and public sales began today, with fans again buying into a night where nostalgia, rivalry and redemption collide. Vincent back in the fold, Wagner steaming in again, rugby royalty swinging for the ropes – the Black Clash isn’t just returning to Christchurch. It’s doubling down on its role as one of the most intriguing fixtures on the New Zealand sporting calendar.
