Cricket is the highest profile summer sport in New Zealand, which is one of the ten countries that take part in Test match cricket.

The national competition is not nearly as widely followed as the case with rugby union, but international matches are watched with interest by a large proportion of the population. This parallels the global situation in cricket, whereby the international game is more widely followed than the domestic game in all major cricketing countries.

Historically, the national cricket team has not been as successful as the national rugby union team. New Zealand played its first test in 1930 but had to wait until 1956 to win its first test. The national team began to have more success in the 1970s and 1980s. New Zealand's most famous cricketer, the fast bowler Richard Hadlee who was the first bowler to take 400 wickets in test cricket, played in this era.

Although traditionally New Zealand have had one of the strongest sides they have never progressed past the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup where they ended up five times, the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games and the semi-finals of the Pro20 World Championship. However New Zealand's Woman's Cricket Team has reached the World Cup finals.