Cricket: In like Flynn and Boult from blue

Northern Knights coach Grant Bradburn has hailed the elevation of Bay of Plenty's Trent Boult and Daniel Flynn into New Zealand Cricket's "chosen 20" yesterday as a prime example of how fighting qualities can regenerate two careers seemingly destined for the international scrapheap before they'd really got started.
Boult, Reece Young, Rob Nicol, and Luke Woodcock have been included on the list of 20 players contracted by NZ Cricket for the first time, but there is no room for veterans James Franklin and Daryl Tuffey. Tuffey and Franklin join Brent Arnel, Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins, Tim McIntosh and Jeetan Patel as those contracted last year to miss out.
Left-arm paceman Boult is rewarded for an impressive domestic season, while Nicol, who missed out on World Cup selection, won a spot after becoming domestic cricket's most valuable player last season.
Allrounder Woodcock went to the World Cup while Young takes over from Auckland captain Hopkins as the second wicketkeeper on the list. Flynn and Neil Broom have returned after missing out last year while Scott Styris, who has retired from international cricket, was not considered.
Bradburn, who will take the Bay of Plenty pair to Brisbane with the New Zealand emerging players' squad next month, said both had fought back from adversity to earn a place on the contract list - Boult from a serious back stress fracture and Flynn from being dropped from the Black Caps two summers ago.
"Trent really regained some traction last summer and both are prime examples of guys who've knuckled down and each taken their games to a new level, which has been recognised with these central contracts.
"Both have two totally different stories - Trent with his injury and Flynny with the way he's put his game back together - but it's cool they've been recognised."
In order to determine their list of 20 players, the national selectors rank the top 25 individuals in order for tests, one-dayers and Twenty20s. The best test player is assigned 25 points and the 25th best is given one.
The same system is followed in all three forms of the game but reflecting test cricket's standing as the No1 discipline, the test rankings are then doubled. That leaves a list of the top 20 players in the country, who are then offered contracts.
The highest paid - Ross Taylor - gets $177,000 and with each drop in ranking the retainer diminishes in size. The player perceived as the 20th most valuable to the Black Caps in the next year rounds out the contract list with a retainer of $72,000. The players also earn match fees when they represent their country.
Bradburn has tipped Flynn in particular to kick on and become a regular back in the Black Caps in all forms of the game.
"Flynny came back to us a couple of seasons ago after his first stint with the Black Caps and really struggled for a period and it took a lot of time, our support and hard work from him to decipher what his game is and start believing in his game again.
"Careers can go one of two ways when a player's been dropped but to Flynny's credit he's earned the right to be back in the Black Caps set-up and has got what it takes to play in all forms.
"While he's progressed at a steady rate it hasn't always been continual. He's a different player now, more mature for sure but more like the player he was when he burst on to the scene for the Knights - aggressive but extremely compact, resilient and very determined.
"He went away from some of the natural instincts that got him to the top in the first place but through trial and error has come back to a point when the Daniel Flynn we see now will be very familiar to a lot of people."