New Zealand Cricket today announced the 20 players to be offered Black Caps contracts for the year 1 August 2013 to 31 July 2014.
Corey Anderson, Tom Latham, Bruce Martin, Mitchell McClenaghan, Colin Munro and Hamish Rutherford are offered contracts for the first time this year. Grant Elliott regains an NZC contract after last being on the list in the 2010-11 season, while Peter Fulton makes his first return since 2008-09.
Players included in last year's list who are not contracted for 2013-14 include Andrew Ellis, Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Chris Martin, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Kruger van Wyk and Jacob Oram (later replaced by Neil Wagner). Daniel Vettori also comes off the list, after deciding to make himself unavailable last week.
A set criteria is used to rank players across all three forms of the game with Test cricket receiving twice the weighting of ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. The players with the 20 highest aggregate scores are then offered NZC contracts.
Black Caps Head Coach, Mike Hesson, said the 20 players to receive the retainer contracts are the cricketers most likely to feature for the Black Caps over the next 12 months at this particular juncture in time.
"We believe that the 20 players selected will provide the most value to the Black Caps over what is an exciting period for the team. There's plenty of cricket to be played over the next 12 months, with series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies, India and the ICC World Twenty20," said Hesson.
"With nine changes from last years contracted list, it's evident that competition for places is high."
"There's still a strong core of experienced players who have been a part of the team's progression over recent months. Some of the younger players such as Corey Anderson and Hamish Rutherford have also demanded a spot, after making strong starts to their international careers.
"As always, some difficult decisions had to be made and a number of last year's contracted players will be disappointed to have missed out. However, there's nothing to say that they can't force their way back into the team in the future through strong domestic performances."
The first round of Major Association contracts will be announced Friday July 26.
Players under contract:
Corey Anderson - Northern Knights
Trent Boult - Northern Knights
Doug Bracewell - Central Stags
Dean Brownlie - Canterbury Wizards
Grant Elliott - Wellington Firebirds
Peter Fulton - Canterbury Wizards
Martin Guptill - Auckland Aces
Tom Latham - Canterbury Wizards
Bruce Martin - Auckland Aces
Mitchell McClenaghan - Auckland Aces
Brendon McCullum - Otago Volts
Nathan McCullum - Otago Volts
Kyle Mills - Auckland Aces
Colin Munro - Auckland Aces
Hamish Rutherford - Otago Volts
Tim Southee - Northern Knights
Ross Taylor - Central Stags
Neil Wagner - Otago Volts
BJ Watling - Northern Knights
Kane Williamson - Northern Knights
