The rising trend of Kiwi cricketers forgoing national contracts to potentially ply their trade in T20 leagues has adversely impacted player availability for New Zealand, skipper Tim Southee admitted on Sunday. The likes former captain Kane Williamson, Devon Conway and Finn Allen this year joined a long list of players who have opted for a casual contract instead of New Zealand Cricket’s central contract in order to pursue opportunities within franchise cricket. “NZC is working with the players and they are trying to come up with a solution that’s best suited for the players and New Zealand cricket as a whole,” Southee said on the eve of New Zealand’s one-off Test against Afghanistan.
“It is obviously a small cricketing country in terms of numbers. It will be great to have as many people as possible available for New Zealand, but the way the world is going, it is getting harder and harder,” he added.
A challenging couple of months await the Black Caps as they play six Tests, including three against India, on the bounce in the subcontinent, where the conditions are vastly different to those back home.
“Conditions are foreign to what we are used to but we are excited about the chance of playing six Test matches on the bounce here in the subcontinent.
“It’s exciting to play cricket in India, of course the weather has been the biggest challenge since we have been here and for the last few days,” added Southee.
With spinners set to dominate, pace bowling captain Southee could also miss a game or two.
“It is a tough….obviously six Test matches in this part of the world and we would like to think spin plays majority of the part as a bowling unit and we got four quality pace bowlers which we have at our disposal as well.
“So it’s about working out what balance is right. (We’ll) take each match as it comes and that we know it’s a busy little period for us where we may have to work through our workloads.” After the three Tests against India, New Zealand are schedule to host England for a Test series as they wrap up their World Test Championship duties for the cycle — if they dont qualify for the final. “It is a challenge for every side. For players playing multi formats you have to balance the chopping and changing nature of busy schedules, so we haven’t played Test cricket for a while, we are so excited and looking forward to getting there out playing Test cricket.
“For us as a side to play nine Test matches in a short space of time is exciting and something we don’t usually get.” New Zealand lost to Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup earlier this year and the Blacks Caps are not taking their opponents lightly despite their inexperience in the format.
“Afghanistan has been an improving side for a number of years and anytime you come up against them, you know you are in for a fight, especially in these conditions. We saw in the T20 World Cup how dangerous a side they can be.
“They have gotten a lot of confidence from the success that they had not only in the T20 World Cup but the one-day World Cup last year in India and they are still new to the Test format, but I am sure this is a format they will want to keep growing as well, like they have done in the other two formats.”
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