Four new players on BLACKCAPS contracts list. 

The return of Ish Sodhi and Colin Munro, and the maiden appearance of Henry Nicholls and George Worker are the features of an expanded, 21-strong BLACKCAPS contract list for 2016-17.  

Sodhi, Munro, Nicholls and Worker replace Brendon and Nathan McCullum, who have both retired from all international cricket, and Grant Elliott - now only available for T20Is. 

The contracts run from August 1 2016 through to July 31 2017, increasing from 20 to 21 players as set out in the latest variation to the Master Agreement between NZC and the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association. 

Sodhi and Munro missed out last year having been last contracted in the 2014-15 season. Nicholls and Worker both made their international debuts in the past 12 months; Nicholls receiving an elevated contract during the summer. 

BLACKCAPS Selector Gavin Larsen said the limited number of changes was representative of the consistent approach to selection.

“We’ve built a strong group of core players over the past couple of years and that’s been a key factor to the consistency of the team’s performance,” said Larsen.

“When we've brought new players into the group, we’ve been really happy with how they’ve adapted and performed on the international stage. Henry and George have made bright starts to their BLACKCAPS careers and we look forward to watching their ongoing development. 

“After missing out last year, Ish and Colin have both worked extremely hard on their game, as we saw with their performances for us in the shorter formats this summer. They thoroughly deserve their contracts.

"It’s also exciting to see Ish make his way back into the Test squad for the upcoming series in Africa."

A set criteria is used to rank players across all three forms of the game, with Tests receiving twice the weighting of One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.  

The 21 players offered BLACKCAPS contracts for the 2016-2017 year are:

Corey Anderson – Northern Districts

Trent Boult – Northern Districts

Doug Bracewell – Central Districts 

Mark Craig – Otago

Martin Guptill – Auckland

Matt Henry – Canterbury

Tom Latham – Canterbury

Mitchell McClenaghan – Auckland

Adam Milne – Central Districts  

Colin Munro – Auckland

James Neesham – Otago

Henry Nicholls – Canterbury

Luke Ronchi – Wellington

Mitchell Santner – Northern Districts

Ish Sodhi – Northern Districts

Tim Southee – Northern Districts

Ross Taylor – Central Districts 

Neil Wagner – Otago

BJ Watling – Northern Districts

Kane Williamson – Northern Districts

George Worker – Central Districts