Fifteen of 16 Central Stags contracts for 2025/26 have been inked in as the team officially welcomes back an old friend to their professional ranks. 

Dean Foxcroft and his family will begin a second innings in Hawke’s Bay this summer, the right-handed batter and spinner poised to represent the Stags again for the first time since 2019.

Central meanwhile bids farewell to top order bat Jack Boyle who heads in the other direction to take up a vacant spot with Foxcroft's former team Otago, after winning all three national titles with the Stags during his three year stint in Hawke's Bay.

The Stags also welcome back vastly experienced allrounder Doug Bracewell to the contracted group. The 34-year-old didn't play for the team in any format last season, having turned down a 2024/25 contract in favour of a second season with South African T20 franchise the Joburg Super Kings. 

Doug Bracewell's back in Stags kit | MBUTCHER

Bracewell and Foxcroft will both be back in action for the Stags in coming weeks, having signed on to play for the Stags at the upcoming ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League, starting on 11 July NZT with live coverage and highlights of all games on SKY Sport. 

The trip sits outside Domestic contractual arrangements with CD Cricket having announced the squad contracted to play in Guyana last week.

TIGHT COMPETITION FOR CONTRACT SPOTS

After NZC announced their list of 20 BLACKCAPS contracted for the 2025/26 year earlier this month, change was inevitable on the contracted Stags squad.

Test spinner Ajaz Patel and allrounder Josh Clarkson were not retained this year on the BLACKCAPS roster and therefore come back onto Stags contracts for 2025/26.

Test star AJAZ PATEL | MBUTCHER

Of last year's contracted group (excluding Boyle), Manawatū batter Mason Hughes (who ultimately missed last season with injury), Hawke's Bay pace pair Joey Field and Tyler Annand, and ND import Ewald Schreuder are the previously contracted names missing, with just one contracted spot left for the coming season.

Round two of New Zealand men's Domestic contracts will be announced early in July, giving all uncontracted players the opportunity to pursue placements with other teams should they elect to do so.

PLAYER PROFILES

FOXCROFT EXPLAINS HIS MOVE

Dean Foxcroft debuted for the Stags in all formats as a young, uncontracted rookie on the up back in 2018/19.

It was a memorable debut season with the Stags, Foxcroft scoring his maiden one-day hundred and being named as the Stags' Ford Trophy Player of the Year in that breakthrough season.

He also top-scored for the Stags in the 2019 Super Smash Grand Final, setting up a precious national title.

Dean Foxcroft, Dane Cleaver after 2019's T20 triumph | PHOTOSPORT

Foxcroft had arrived in New Zealand from South Africa a couple of years earlier to play for Napier’s Taradale Cricket Club, having already represented South Africa U19 at the 2016 Under 19 World Cup, but keen to pursue an international cricket career with New Zealand.

South Africa's loss was New Zealand's gain and he has already represented the BLACKCAPS in both white-ball formats as a classy player with a complete set of skills. Most recently he impressed on the recent New Zealand A tour of Bangladesh.

During his tenure with the Volts, he was named NZC’s Men’s 2022/23 Domestic Cricketer of the Year and got his six white-ball caps for New Zealand.

Foxcroft's career tally is now:

• Almost 2,000 first-class runs (two centuries, 12 fifties)
• Two first-class bags (63 wickets)
• 1,395 one-day runs (three centuries, six fifties, 30+ average)
• 36 List A wickets
• 1,413 T20 runs (11 fifties) 
• A best T20 haul of 5/11

He said his internal drive to keep challenging himself was at the heart of the difficult decision to farewell Otago after six years. 

Two of those years saw him stuck in South Africa during the COVID era restrictions: on a South African passport, he was unable to get a Visa exemption from New Zealand authorities to get back into Aotearoa.

“I’ve only got good words for Otago and everyone at the Otago Cricket Association,” says Foxcroft.

“They welcomed me and my family from day one, and I particularly want to thank Otago for all their efforts, their help, and for sticking by me, during that difficult period and situation that none of us could have imagined. 

Foxcroft captained the Volts | PHOTOSPORT

“My family and I want to thank all the players and staff from the bottom of my heart, for their understanding, and everything they’ve done for us over the past six years. 

"So much work happens behind the scenes and as players we probably don’t acknowledge often enough all the one-percenters that people put in for you backstage, to help you be at your best, and all the times they go the extra mile for you — but I definitely appreciate that.”

He explains that deep down, “I feel my own game hasn’t been as good as it could have been, in the last couple of years.”

Last year he even stepped down from the Otago captaincy in order to try to get that right, but still felt he wasn't meeting his potential.

"In my heart, I knew that meant it was the right time for a change.”

Now, he’s looking forward to a fresh start. The clincher in his decision was that gnawing feeling that he needed the stimulus of a new environment.

“Just like Otago’s got a special place in my heart, CD’s also got a special place in my heart, and it's nice to be back,” he said.

"We’ve got a lot of good friends in both places and, now that we have made that decision as a family, I can’t wait to be back for CD, playing with my good mates here again.

Back from the blue | PHOTOSPORT

 

"I know it will feel different from last time, stimulating.

"There is a whole new training base there now at [CD's world class headquarters in Hastings] Mitre10 Park; some fresh faces as well as familiar ones who are now the senior players, and a different coaching staff, so I see it as a new environment to challenge me again in the cricket sense, make me a better cricketer, and help me play for the BLACKCAPS again.”

Central Districts Manager, High Performance Dave Meiring said he was delighted to be welcoming a player of Foxcroft’s proven class back to the region.

“Dean is a well liked and respected player, as well as very accomplished in all facets of the game,” said Meiring.

“I know he is really looking forward to reigniting his Stags career with players he has played with and against over the years, and the feeling is mutual.”

END OF AN ERA

While uncontracted CD players can also represent the Stags, that won't include 34-year-old Stags veteran Ben Smith who is officially now retired from Domestic cricket.

A gritty top order batter from Whanganui, Smith's Central career spanned from 2010/11 to 2023/24 and saw him play 71 List A one-day, 71 first-class and 42 T20 matches for the team.

He tallied 3,506 runs in the Plunket Shield at a 30+ average, with six hundreds - including a knock of 244, the Stags' fourth highest individual score, in a summer in which he produced three first-class centuries in one season (2015/16).

Ben Smith | PHOTOSPORT

Not to be confused with coach Ben F. Smith (who also scored a first-class double ton as a Stags top order batter), Smith could be brutal in one-day cricket as well, with a career-best unbeaten 149* at Saxton Oval in 2019/20 and commanding 145 in Hamilton (2022/23, part of a 252-run partnership with Brad Schmulian).

He finished with an average over 30 in that format too, Jamie How and George Worker the only Stags players to have scored more runs for the team in a one-day innings.

Smith and Worker hold the Stags' second-wicket one-day record of 224 from Nelson, where Smith also made his last appearance, in November 2023.

2025/26 Contracts

[In alphabetical order]

Doug Bracewell — Hawke’s Bay, RA pace allrounder

Tom Bruce — Taranaki, RH batter, RA spin bowler

Will Clark — Hawke’s Bay, RA pace allrounder

Josh Clarkson — Nelson, RA pace allrounder

Dane Cleaver — Manawatū, wicketkeeper-RH batter

Toby Findlay — Hawke’s Bay, RA pace bowler

Dean Foxcroft — Hawke’s Bay, RH batter, RA spin

Curtis Heaphy — Manawatū, RH top order batter

Jayden Lennox — Hawke’s Bay, LA spinner

Ajaz Patel — Hawke’s Bay, LA spinner

Brett Randell — Nelson, RA pace allrounder

Angus Schaw — Hawke’s Bay, RH batter, RA spin

Brad Schmulian — Hawke’s Bay, RH batter, leg-spin bowler

Blair Tickner — Hawke’s Bay, RA pace bowler

Ray Toole — Manawatū, LA pace bowler, LH batter

∆ One name will be added in the second round ∆

2025/26 BLACKCAPS Contract

Will Young — Taranaki, RH batter

LAST DAYS TO BOOK

Article added: Thursday 26 June 2025

Author: Margot Butcher

All images: Photosport | Published under licence or ©️Margot Butcher