Milne given NZC contract after five years

Adam Milne has been given a New Zealand Cricket (NZC) central contract for the first time in five years. The 31-year-old fast bowler featured in 16 white-ball games for the national team in the last season and is a possible inclusion for the 50-over World Cup 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.

"He's always been a top-class bowler and we were impressed by his consistent contributions in the recent home summer and tour of Pakistan."

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.

Also absent from the list is the trio of Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme and Martin Guptill, all of whom had previously requested to be released from NZC contracts inorder to feature more regularly in franchise cricket around the world. NZC has however said that Boult has committed to being available for the Black Caps for part of the playing programme and therefore has been offered a casual playing agreement.

Central contracts for 2023-24: Finn Allen, Tom Blundell, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young