Each year New Zealand Cricket announce their list of contracted players. In the big scheme of things, this doesn't mean a great deal as nearly every summer there are players from outside the contracted group that step in and rock a black cap, representing their country in either Test, ODI or T20 cricket. 

For you and I, this has zero impact on our lives as cricket fans. For the players though this is a nice little boost as one would assume that national contracts are worth a bit more than domestic contracts, so being on this contracted list guarantees a larger stack of cash, larger than their domestic cash-stack with any international match-payments on top.

The financials are of little interest to me though. The main point of interest for myself and cricket fans across Aotearoa should be that this is a pool of players who are either already in the BLACKCAPS, are in a wider BLACKCAPS squad or are players who could step up into the BLACKCAPS group on a more frequent basis. As I said, there will players who catch fire in domestic cricket and when combined with injuries and what not, will come into contention and possibly get a BLACKCAPS promotion. Other than that, this is the general pool of players who will make up the BLACKCAPS for the next 12 months.

Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Mark Craig, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, George Worker.

When taking a look at this group of contracted players, we can shuffle the 21 players into little groups. I'm not sure if it's important to note that there's been an increase from last year's 20 contracted players to the 21 contracted players this year, it could be worth discussing but probably not.

Of course we'll start with the players who I view as established BLACKCAPS or players who I thought were always going to be part of this contracted list - which is most of them, especially given how big this group is.

Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Doug Bracewell, Tom Latham, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Mitchell Santner, Luke Ronchi and BJ Watling.

That's 13 players, effectively a team to play on Saturday with a 12th-Man in there to carry the drinks. It shouldn't be a surprise that these players could all be considered Test cricket regulars, with guys like Henry, Wagner, Bracewell and Ronchi on the fringes of the Test team but have all featured in various capacities in recent Test squads. This group also makes up a strong contingent of the limited overs group as well, as does this second group.

The second group are players who I consider to be next tier in Test cricket for different reasons. Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig are both in this group and they are obviously connected. Sodhi wasn't part of recent Test squads but has worked his way into the squad to tour Africa and any promotion that he enjoys to the Test team will likely be at the expense of Craig, who has probably just made the last NZC contracted group for the last time. 

Also in this group is Henry Nicholls who is in the mix for a spot in the next BLACKCAPS Test batting line up. Nicholls is an asset to this BLACKCAPS Test group not only because he's young, but he's also capable of filling any batting spot from No.3 to No.6 and we can probably bank on Nicholls establishing himself as a key figure thanks to that versatility in the next 12 months.

16 players in two groups, which leaves us with Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, James Neesham, George Worker and Colin Munro. This third group consists of players who are far more likely to feature in more limited overs cricket than Test cricket in the next 12 months, with McClenaghan, Milne and Munro all key figures in any ODI/T20 BLACKCAPS team. 

Some would view this with a negative tinge, but obviously this third group would want to be playing Test cricket and it's yet another example of the incredibly healthy position of kiwi cricket that we have this sort of depth. McClenaghan and Milne will be in the mix for a Test spot if there are injuries or a drop-off in form from either Southee, Boult, Wagner, Bracewell or Henry and at the very least they will both be putting pressure on that frontline group of Test bowlers; The Stable is strong.

Munro hasn't quite shown that he has the technique or temperament for Test cricket, but he's in the mix for sure. There will need to be an injury or loss of form in the middle-order for Munro to get a run but Munro is also putting pressure on Nicholls - if Nicholls doesn't take his opportunities, Munro will happily take his place.

Neesham needs to show that he can stay healthy enough to consistently get on the park. After a hot start to his Test career, Neesham's fallen off badly thanks mainly to injury but this has also allowed Mitchell Santner more game time as another all-rounder and the presence of Santner doesn't do Neesham any favours. If Neesham is scoring runs and taking wickets, he'll get a chance in limited overs cricket and that will put him in the frame for a Test spot. Right now though, Neesham is well down the pecking order.

As for Worker, he just needs to keep stacking up the runs at any chance he gets. If he does, he'll soon be putting pressure on guys like Guptill but Worker could also be in with a sniff of an ODI opening spot alongside Guptill if he's scoring runs. Both Worker and Neesham need to be scoring runs and taking wickets in domestic cricket or in any limited opportunity they get with the BLACKCAPS, if they aren't then they'll linger on the outskirts.

Interesting to note that Jeet Raval hasn't got an NZC contract, no dramas there. Raval will be on trial in Africa and that's if he does get some game time on that tour. All the 21 players named in this contracted list have done something in international cricket, whether that's breaking records or putting a single performance up, they've done something while Raval is yet to do anything. 

In general, this is awesome. There's no player in this contracted list that doesn't deserve to be there, even if they haven't done a whole lot lately. There's a strong core group that can hang with any international team in any format while the group of players who can put pressure on those ahead of them, demanding selection, is just as exciting. Good times for kiwi cricket.