23 May 2022Six Northern Districts players have been confirmed on the BLACKCAPS contracts list for the upcoming 2022/23 season.
Leading the way is captain Kane Williamson, who will once again be joined by Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, and Neil Wagner.
Five of the contracted players have been named in the BLACKCAPS squad for their European Tour with only de Grandhomme on the ground in England for the two warm-up matches before the test series with England.
Williamson and Wagner are currently in New Zealand awaiting the birth of children before they link up with the BLACKCAPS. Wagner stayed in New Zealand when the bulk of the touring party departed for the UK, while Williamson returned home from the Indian Premier League recently to be with his wife Sarah for the birth.
Still in India, Boult’s Rajasthan Royals have made the IPL 2022 playoffs after finishing second in the league stage and will take on Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkotta this week. Boult will link up with the touring party once his IPL commitments end.
Meanwhile, Tim Southee has now become available to join the tour after the Kolkata Knight Riders tournament ended and will be looking to reproduce the sensational form that saw him claim New Zealand Cricket’s supreme award the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal as well as the Winsor Cup for first-class bowling at the ANZ New Zealand Cricket Awards.
And finally, Mitchell Santner’s IPL campaign with the Chennai Super Kings has also ended after they failed to progress to the playoffs.
The BLACKCAPS will face England in a three-test series before a limited overs series in Ireland (3x ODI & 3x T20I) and Scotland (2x T20I & 1x ODI) in July and Netherlands (2x T20I) in early August.
This will be followed by a tour to the West Indies (3x T20I & 3x ODI), before the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia in October.
