Next on the list: 20 players to contract

The Press reported that Friday 26 June is D-day for the 20 contracted players who will be contracted to New Zealand Cricket for the 2009/10 season. This could well be in the aftermath of the ICC World T20 raffle, unless of course we lose to the Kiltwearers (6 June, The Oval) and the Proteas (9 June, Lord's).

The contract period has been moved from the end of May to the end of July, with contracts for 2009/10 starting on August 1. Contracts are awarded to the 20 players who have "the greatest likely future value to the Black Caps in the next 12 months". Whatever that means.

Of course, for seven players the contract list is more a matter of pride than a matter of pennies with McCullum, Vettori, Oram, Ryder, Taylor and Mills and Styris all paying the bills and then some with their IPL contracts.

As the international cricketing scene fragments, some speculate players may opt not to sign with New Zealand Cricket, and essentially become free agents contracted on a tournament-by-tournament or series-by-series basis. Could a B McCullum or a Styris take that bold move? No way - well, not yet anyway.

With the Indian Cricket League option imploding, and the ongoing requirement for NZC to issue a silly "non-objection certificate" to players who wish to partake in the IPL money-go-round, it seems far-fetched.

So where do we sit when we look at the merits of this year's list? I suspect lip service will be paid to the importance of Test cricket - extra weighting and all - but the reality is that ODI and T20 cricket is thundering up the priority list. It seems increasingly ridiculous that T20 value does not warrant its own separate component in terms of calculating the rankings. Surely the day for this to happen is fast approaching. 

I think we can slap the contenders into three camps: Old Schoolers from the class of 2008/09, New Entrants and Other Chaps. My list comprises 13 old schoolers and seven new entrants.

Old Schoolers: Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori and Scott Styris.
 
New Entrants: Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Nathan McCullum and Peter McGlashan.

Here are the Other Chaps to consider as you critique my list's flaws and foibles:

Shane Bond, Craig Cumming, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Peter Ingram, Jamie How, James Marshall, Warren McSkimming, Michael Mason, Aaron Redmond, Shanan Stewart and Ewen Thompson.

The speculation around Shane Bond's imminent return is welling up again, but I think it would be unlikely that the establishment would embrace him back with open arms at first blush. And on the other side of the picket fence, given Bond's experience trying to tiptoe through global cricket's political minefield last time around, he'll probably just play for match payments anyway. Otherwise he'd be my third man picked after Vettori and McCullum.

For the record, here's the 2008/09 list: Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, James Marshall, Chris Martin, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori.

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