Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on Fri, 15 Jun, 2018, 11:14 AM
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Ryder had 25 first-class centuries and 11 List A centuries against his name, apart from having played 18 Tests, 48 ODIs and 22 T20Is. © Getty
By not renewing the contract of former New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder for the upcoming summer, Central Districts have effectively ended the 33-year-old’s domestic career, as the mix associations named the list of players that were offered first-round contracts for the upcoming season.
“It was a very difficult decision not to offer Jesse a new contract as we have appreciated his contribution to the team for the past three summers,” Central Districts chief executive Pete de Wet said on Friday (June 15), citing opting for younger talent as a reason. “However, ultimately we have considered the balance of our squad and have elected to take a long-range view, planning for the continued success of the Central Stags.”
Ryder had 25 first-class centuries and 11 List A centuries against his name, apart from having played 18 Tests, 48 ODIs and 22 T20 Internationals for New Zealand between 2008 and 2014. His off-field issues though chopped off a large chunk of what could’ve been a promising career.
“Jesse has been a valuable member of our squad for the past few summers and he started strongly for us last season,” de Wet said. “Notably, he achieved a century in each innings of a first-class match for the second time in his career; and later made a solid contribution to our Ford Trophy campaign.
“We tend to rethink things each year when we get into this situation,” de Wet said. “We have guys coming through in our A programme, playing well in Hawke Cup cricket. It’s been part of our planning for the past four years that we make these guys ready for the step up, and we’ve seen that with guys like Christian Leopard and Willie Ludick. They’re terrific talents, and we’ve decided to focus on those players of the future. Jesse was naturally disappointed by the decision, but we’ve got a limited number of contracts available and it’s just the nature of these things. We’ll be set for another tough conversation with someone next year if the development continues.”
Elsewhere, veterans Michael Papps, Rob Nicol and Brent Arnel called it a day, leaving voids at Wellington, Otago and Northern Districts respectively. Devon Conway will come in for Papps, while at Otago, Mitchell Renwick could be an apt replacement for Nicol. Northern Districts have James Baker and a number of supplementary quicks who could step in for Arnel.
However, the most significant switch came from Jimmy Neesham, who left Otago for Wellington, and Stephen Murdoch, who moved from Firebirds for Canterbury due to family reasons.
The process for contracting domestic players involves two rounds; 16 players are contracted to each team, up one from the previous seasons. The Associations can offer 10 to 15 contracts in the first round at their discretion, before the remaining are offered in the second round on June 30 to complete their squads.
Domestic contract first round offer for 2018-19 season
Auckland
Jamie Brown, Craig Cachopa, Mark Chapman, Danru Ferns, Michael Guptill-Bunce, Ben Horne, Ben Lister, Matt McEwan, Robbie O’Donnell, Glenn Phillips, Sean Solia, Will Somerville
Canterbury
Chad Bowes, Blake Coburn, Leo Carter, Andrew Ellis, Cameron Fletcher, Andrew Hazeldine, Kyle Jamieson, Ken McClure, Cole McConchie, Stephen Murdoch, Ed Nuttall, Henry Shipley, Will Williams, Theo van Woerkom
Central Districts
Doug Bracewell, Tom Bruce, Josh Clarkson, Dane Cleaver, Greg Hay, Christian Leopard, Willem Ludick, Ryan McCone, Ajaz Patel, Seth Rance, Bevan Small, Ben Smith, Blair Tickner, Ben Wheeler, Will Young
Northern Districts
James Baker, Peter Bocock, Dean Brownlie, Henry Cooper, Anton Devcich, Daniel Flynn, Zak Gibson, Brett Hampton, Nick Kelly, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Bharat Popli, Brett Randell, Tim Seifert, Joe Walker
Otago
Matt Bacon, Warren Barnes, Neil Broom, Mark Craig, Jacob Duffy, Josh Finnie, Shawn Hicks, Anaru Kitchen, Michael Rae, Mitch Renwick, Michael Rippon, Hamish Rutherford, Nathan Smith, Brad Wilson
Wellington
Hamish Bennett, Tom Blundell, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Lauchie Johns, Iain McPeake, Jimmy Neesham, Ollie Newton, Malcolm Nofal, Jeetan Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears, Logan van Beek, Luke Woodcock, Peter Younghusband
