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2019 Season
From the players who’d come to the end of their contracts, we re-signed Dean Brownlie, Leo Carter and Neil Broom for another season, and Jono Hickey for a further two seasons.
We decided to release Todd Astle, Ajaz Patel, Matt McEwan and Kyle Jamieson in the hope of signing up players that might serve us better.
We opted not to sign any of the youth players who’d come through the ranks.
We would be looking for an all-rounder to make us more competitive in the shorter forms of the game.
Also, having released Matt McEwan, Kyle Jamieson and Ajaz Patel, we would be looking for at least one spin bowler and one pace bowler.
With three of our key batsmen being NZ contracted, we were also looking for a couple more batsmen to boost our stocks.
In the first round of contracts, pickings looked fairly lean, with no exceptional batsmen, all-rounders or bowlers!
We were able to afford an overseas player this season though, so we snapped up 23 year old English all-rounder Christian DeFries. Although he is a solid rather than spectacular middle order batsman, it is his quality off-spin that attracted our attention.
Young Canterbury batsman Scott Leaney seemed to be the most promising of the batsmen available, but we felt we might have better options in the second round, so didn't offer him a contract.
Amongst the bowlers on the domestic market, none stood out as any better than the two pacemen we’d released, but we decided to take a punt on 22 year old Otago pace bowler Malcolm Rendell, as we felt he has the potential to improve into a useful asset.
We didn’t want to rely on having just one spin bowler, so we had a choice between re-signing either Todd Astle or Ajaz Patel. Astle got the nod.
Going into the second round of contracts, we hoped to see some quality options. However, there were still no star players in the pool.
We signed Sri Lankan all-rounder Umesh Kunaratne as our overseas back-up for DeFries. He is more of a batting all-rounder, but is also a top class spin bowler.
A few all-rounders were now available and the best of them was 35 year old Jesse Ryder from Central Districts, so he was offered a contract, which he accepted.
The stand-out pace bowler in the domestic market was 33 year old Neil Wagner from Otago. We considered him to be preferable to re-signing either Matt McEwan or Kyle Jamieson, so signed him on.
Amongst the batsmen were four possibilities – young Otago batsman Chris Mathies, veteran Northern Districts opener Daniel Flynn, Canterbury batsman Scott Leaney and Canterbury middle order batsman Chad Bowes.
We opted for the proven reliability of 26 year old Bowes.
Now into the third round of bidding, it was a case of seeing if we could pick up a couple of cheap youth players to fill out our squad.
We decided to go for two 19 year old youth players, batsman Todd King and pace bowler Christian Agnew. Both were happy to join us.
A 25 player squad should see us better able to cope with NZ call-ups and injuries.
From the players who’d come to the end of their contracts, we re-signed Dean Brownlie, Leo Carter and Neil Broom for another season, and Jono Hickey for a further two seasons.
We decided to release Todd Astle, Ajaz Patel, Matt McEwan and Kyle Jamieson in the hope of signing up players that might serve us better.
We opted not to sign any of the youth players who’d come through the ranks.
We would be looking for an all-rounder to make us more competitive in the shorter forms of the game.
Also, having released Matt McEwan, Kyle Jamieson and Ajaz Patel, we would be looking for at least one spin bowler and one pace bowler.
With three of our key batsmen being NZ contracted, we were also looking for a couple more batsmen to boost our stocks.
In the first round of contracts, pickings looked fairly lean, with no exceptional batsmen, all-rounders or bowlers!
We were able to afford an overseas player this season though, so we snapped up 23 year old English all-rounder Christian DeFries. Although he is a solid rather than spectacular middle order batsman, it is his quality off-spin that attracted our attention.
Young Canterbury batsman Scott Leaney seemed to be the most promising of the batsmen available, but we felt we might have better options in the second round, so didn't offer him a contract.
Amongst the bowlers on the domestic market, none stood out as any better than the two pacemen we’d released, but we decided to take a punt on 22 year old Otago pace bowler Malcolm Rendell, as we felt he has the potential to improve into a useful asset.
We didn’t want to rely on having just one spin bowler, so we had a choice between re-signing either Todd Astle or Ajaz Patel. Astle got the nod.
Going into the second round of contracts, we hoped to see some quality options. However, there were still no star players in the pool.
We signed Sri Lankan all-rounder Umesh Kunaratne as our overseas back-up for DeFries. He is more of a batting all-rounder, but is also a top class spin bowler.
A few all-rounders were now available and the best of them was 35 year old Jesse Ryder from Central Districts, so he was offered a contract, which he accepted.
The stand-out pace bowler in the domestic market was 33 year old Neil Wagner from Otago. We considered him to be preferable to re-signing either Matt McEwan or Kyle Jamieson, so signed him on.
Amongst the batsmen were four possibilities – young Otago batsman Chris Mathies, veteran Northern Districts opener Daniel Flynn, Canterbury batsman Scott Leaney and Canterbury middle order batsman Chad Bowes.
We opted for the proven reliability of 26 year old Bowes.
Now into the third round of bidding, it was a case of seeing if we could pick up a couple of cheap youth players to fill out our squad.
We decided to go for two 19 year old youth players, batsman Todd King and pace bowler Christian Agnew. Both were happy to join us.
A 25 player squad should see us better able to cope with NZ call-ups and injuries.
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