New Zealand Cricket (NZC) yesterday announced the historic shield would be dusted off and reinstated as the trophy for the men's four-day competition.
The national body is in a strong financial position after recording an operating surplus of $6.84 million in the last financial period and no longer needs a sponsor to offset the cost of running the four-day competition.
The Plunket Shield has a special place in the history of New Zealand cricket. It was established in 1906 and survived the Great Depression and two world wars but succumbed following the 1975-74 season, when the Shell Series was introduced. State Insurance later took over the naming rights in 2001-02.
Turner was the last captain to win the Plunket Shield and told the Otago Daily Times his memories of that season were a bit scratchy, unlike his form that summer.
Turner scored 838 runs at an average of 59.85, including back-to-back centuries against Northern Districts and Central Districts.
"If you are looking for details, as far as that goes, I'm not your ideal person," Turner joked.
"But I remember a lot about those days . . . you know, playing three-day matches and only five of them. They were played at a time when touring sides would come on from Australia. So I remember that we had very little match play in between leading into those test series, which I thought was a great disadvantage.
"At that time, I was playing county cricket and knew how useful it was to walk off one field and on to another, and that didn't happen in those days."
Despite the rise of twenty/20 cricket, Turner said the four-day game was still the pinnacle of New Zealand domestic cricket.
"Twenty/20 gets more people through the gate, but it is well short, certainly in cricketing circles, of being seen as the premier game. You blink and it is over, anyway.
"I think the sides that win a four-day competition are generally seen as a better all-round team. It's a bit like comparing test cricket with limited-overs stuff. All the money is behind limited-overs, and the prize money is more, but there is still more prestige in winning a test series."
The Plunket Shield is held at the NZC Museum at the Basin Reserve in Wellington and chief executive Justin Vaughan said its reintroduction was an exciting step for domestic cricket.
"For the first time in a decade, we find ourselves in a different sponsorship environment, and this gives us the opportunity to restore real history and heritage back into our first-class competition through the Plunket Shield."
The competition gets under way next week. Otago opens its campaign against Northern Districts at the University Oval on Tuesday.
PLUNKET SHIELD HISTORY
• Lord Plunket, Governor of New Zealand, awarded the Shield to Canterbury at the end of the 1906-07 season.
• From 1906-07 to 1920-21, the Shield was competed for under a challenge system. From 1922, the winner of the first-class competition won the Shield.
• Otago wins: 1924-25, 1932-33, 1947-48, 1950-51, 1952-53, 1957-58, 1969-70, 1971-72, 1974-75.
