Aotearoa's domestic cricket contracts are now being wrapped up with the second round of contracts seeing most teams add a couple fringe lads to their contracted list. Northern Districts Knights contracts have come through and I’ve updated the lists, now with Kristian Clarke being promoted to bolster the Knights’ young crop. Clarke finished as the leading kiwi wicket-taker at last year’s Under 19 World Cup and scored a few runs as well, so expect him to become a domestic cricket factor sometime soon.

There is a young tinge to the Knights list and this is a big old trend across kiwi cricket. A few years ago, the domestic cricket landscape shifted from the being dominated by grizzly veterans to skewing younger. Now we are seeing the veterans for each team are generally younger and there are far more up and coming players entrenched in each squad. This is reflected in the younger talent working into various Blackcaps mixers and as I'm on the train of this being a golden era for Aotearoa cricket, football, rugby league and nearly every sport; it's a beautiful thing.

ND are a nice example of this. Guys like Jeet Raval, Anurag Verma, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tim Seifert and Joe Carter are the 'veterans' whether via their age or experience. The Knights now have a batting unit with emerging talents like Henry Cooper and Katene Clarke stepping into more prominent roles, while the bowling department consists of intriguing young seamers: Matthew Fisher, Zak Gibson and Brett Randell.

Elsewhere, Auckland added 18-year-old leggie Adithya Ashok and lefty-seamer Matthew Gibson to an already young roster. Ashok is the bloke to watch out for here as he's probably the hottest spin prospect coming out of Auckland since Ish Sodhi and Ashok's also a leggy, offering a funky splash to an Aotearoa spin landscape that is definitely not funky. Ashok took 4 wickets at the 2020 Under 19 World Cup and that wasn't enough to get Ashok on the wicket-taking leaderboard; at least 40 bowlers took 5+ wickets.

Under 19 World Cups are great, just don't assume that success or failures at U19 level mean anything in relation to professional cricket. Ashok did play two T20 games vs Pakistan Shaheens last summer for the Aotearoa 11 and after not taking a wicket in the first game, Ashok snared 3w @ 6rpo in his 4ov. Hopefully we will see Ashok bowl this summer and without throwing him to the wolves, the earlier he gets into repetitions at this level the better.

Auckland have a strange spin situation to complicate matters. Louis Delport is at the very least pulling up level with Will Somerville, which casual cricket fans may overlook when pondering kiwi spin. Since breaking into the Blackcaps, Somerville has been up and down for Auckland with Delport enjoying a few nifty spells. Such competition with two older spinners can only be good for Ashok who won't need to look far for spin kaumatua.

Central Districts have added Christian Leopard and he's already played a bunch of domestic games, so no major insights here. As always, CD Stags have a rock-solid roster with some enticing youngsters who have gained low key experience in recent summers; Josh Clarkson, Joey Field, Jayden Lennox and Bayley Wiggins have all had emerging buzz.

Wellington added Callum McLachlan and the young wicket-keeper/batsmen has a fantastic opportunity to set up shop as the primary wicket-keeper. BJ Watling's retirement opens the door for Tom Blundell's promotion and as Blundell will spend more time away with the Blackcaps, McClachlan will now plug the hole left by Blundell - who has been the main wicket-keeper since 2013.

Canterbury's addition of Will O'Rourke is interesting as O'Rourke appears to be following the path of Kyle Jamieson. Both are from Auckland and moved to Canterbury to study, then entered the domestic circuit with Canterbury. Jamieson's move seemed to come via a Canterbury Cricket/Lincoln University partnership, while O'Rourke may have made the university move and then caught the eye of Canterbury cricket afterwards.

Canterbury's announcement of O'Rourke's contract included these descriptions…

From coach Brendon Donkers:

“Will’s got some great tools that we’ve seen since he came down from Auckland last season. His height is obviously a great asset and hopefully he’ll be with us for a long time.”

General yarn:

After moving to Christchurch for university in 2020, O’Rourke began turning heads in the club scene, using his height, bounce, and movement to make his mark in an extremely competitive competition.

Given what Jamieson's done, if that's how Canterbury cricket feels about an Auckland seamer who moved to Canterbury - I'm all here for it.

Otago added Josh Finnie and Travis Muller, both of whom have played plenty of domestic cricket in recent years. Finnie hasn't played Plunket Shield though after opting to focus on limited overs cricket where his slugging and all-round ability makes him an x-factor. The weird thing is that Finnie struggled in Super Smash (4inns - 45 runs @ 11.25avg) and Ford Trophy (6inns - 66 runs @ 11avg) last summer, making this summer a crucial campaign for Finnie.

Below are all the domestic cricket contracted players that have been announced, as well as the Blackcaps contracts split among the associations. With zero science or evidence I have put lads who feel older/more experienced in bold while younger/emerging talent is left normal. This was purely a case of me rolling through the list and checking if I have seen that name in domestic cricket for a few years at least.

Auckland Aces

Adithya Ashok, Cole Briggs, Mark Chapman, Louis Delport, Danru Ferns, Matthew Gibson, Ryan Harrison, Ben Horne, Ben Lister, Robert O’Donnell, William O’Donnell, Ollie Pringle, Sean Solia, Will Somerville, Ross ter Braak, George Worker.

Blackcaps: Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Phillips

Northern Districts Knights (First Round)

Peter Bocock, Katene Clarke, Kristian Clarke, Joe Carter, Henry Cooper, Matthew Fisher, Zak Gibson, Brett Hampton, Scott Kuggeleijn, Bharat Popli, Brett Randell, Jeet Raval, Tim Seifert, Anurag Verma, Freddy Walker, Joe Walker.

Blackcaps: Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner.

Central Districts Stags

Doug Bracewell, Tom Bruce, Josh Clarkson, Dane Cleaver, Joey Field, Greg Hay, Jayden Lennox, Christian Leopard, Adam Milne, Ajaz Patel, Seth Rance, Brad Schmulian, Ben Smith, Blair Tickner, Ray Toole, Bayley Wiggins.

Blackcaps: Ross Taylor, Will Young.

Wellington Firebirds

Finn Allen, Hamish Bennett, Jakob Bhula, Michael Bracewell, Luke Georgeson, Jamie Gibson, Troy Johnson, Callum McLachlan, Iain McPeake, Ollie Newton, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Michael Snedden, Logan van Beek, Peter Younghusband.

Blackcaps: Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Jimmy Neesham.

Canterbury

Todd Astle, Chad Bowes, Jack Boyle, Leo Carter, Harry Chamberlain, Sean Davey, Cam Fletcher, Andrew Hazeldine, Ken McClure, Cole McConchie, Ed Nuttall, Will O'Rourke, Fraser Sheat, Theo van Woerkom, Will Williams.

Blackcaps: Henry Nicholls, Tom Latham, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell.

Otago Volts

Matt Bacon, Neil Broom, Max Chu, Jacob Duffy, Josh Finnie, Jake Gibson, Nick Kelly, Anaru Kitchen, Angus McKenzie, Jarrod McKay, Travis Muller, Dale Phillips, Michael Rae, Michael Rippon, Mitch Renwick, Hamish Rutherford.

Blackcaps: Unluggy.

Hit an ad to show some love.

Support us on Patreon - Almost Daily Olympics Podcasts coming up on Patreon.

Monday/Friday email goes hard.

Peace and love.