The Herald looks at the big winners and losers from New Zealand Cricket's annual awarding of 20 central contracts.

New Zealand Cricket today announced the 20 players to be offered Black Caps contracts for the next year.

Chris Martin has chosen the right time to walk away from the game which has dominated his life for the past 15 years.

Black Caps and Auckland Aces fast bowler Chris Martin announced his retirement from all forms of cricket today.

New Zealand was able to rely on three younger players to help win the first Twenty20 international match against England at the Oval.

The Black Caps have won the opening Twenty20 international against England by five runs in a dramatic encounter at the Oval.

Daniel Vettori has had an operation on his troublesome Achilles in London in an attempt to extend a stellar international career.

Kane Williamson's batting brought New Zealand within 10 runs of victory but the overall fielding effort let them down in the Champions Trophy loss to England.

New Zealand made a spirited contribution to their Champions Trophy match this morning but England were more committed, going on to win by 10 runs.

Last week I said that while the Black Caps ODI team looks formidable, the acid test will come when they reach the must-win games. Tonight's match against England could prove to be the first of those.

With New Zealand on the cusp of another semifinal at an international one-day cricket tournament, coach and chief selector Mike Hesson must ask himself a major question when the Champions Trophy ends.

It's a struggle finding a British weather forecast which does anything but usher New Zealand into the Champions Trophy semifinals as top qualifiers.

Stand-in Australian skipper George Bailey was forced to deal with the David Warner dropping following his side's rained out ODI against NZ.

Daniel Vettori has had further pain relief treatment for his Achilles tendon as he seeks short-term survival at the Champions Trophy.

Blackcaps captain Brendon McCullum admits to a few anxious moments in the nail-bitingly close win over Sri Lanka in Cardiff.

A dominant bowling and fielding display plastered just enough over flaky batting to enable NZ's one wicket win over Sri Lanka. It wasn’t a good day to be a fingernail.

Surely belief is high right now for our team - but where it will get tested, and where it has failed them in the past, is in the big game.

Crunching the numbers ahead of New Zealand's opening Champions Trophy match against Sri Lanka, produces one compelling statistic which trumps all.

New Zealand's paramount match at the Champions Trophy comes on Wednesday night against Australia.

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson wants the team to take an all-or-nothing approach to Sri Lanka in the side's first game of the Champions Trophy tomorrow.