For the first time in five years, Adam Milne has been offered a central contract by New Zealand Cricket (NZC). In the previous season, the 31-year-old fast bowler played in 16 white-ball games for the national squad. He is being considered for the 50-over World Cup, which will be held in India later this year.
“Adam’s worked exceptionally hard and has shown good resilience over the past few years to be in a position to earn this contract offer,” said Black Caps head coach Gary Stead.
The 20-man contract list released by the board for the 2023-24 season has a notable absentee in Ajaz Patel. The left-arm spinner, who is only the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to take all 10 wickets in an innings, played just two Tests last year and no games whatsoever for the white-ball teams.
Ajaz Patel’s absence from the 20-man contract list released by the board for the 2023-24 season is notable. The left-arm spinner, who is only the third bowler in Test cricket history to capture all 10 wickets in an innings, played only two Tests and no games for the white-ball teams in 2017.
Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, and Martin Guptill are also absent from the list, as they had previously requested to be released from their NZC contracts in order to participate more frequently in franchise cricket around the globe. However, NZC has stated that Boult has committed to being available for the Black Caps for a portion of the playing schedule and has therefore been offered a casual playing contract.
Central contracts for 2023-24: Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Blair Tickner, Mark Chapman, Finn Allen, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Michael Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Will Young, Kane Williamson
