Central Contract Opt-Outs Are Straining Player Availability For New Zealand, Says Tim Southee

The rising trend of Kiwi cricketers forgoing national contracts to potentially ply their trade in T20 leagues has adversely impacted player availability for New Zealand, skipper Tim Southee admitted on Sunday. The likes former captain Kane Williamson, Devon Conway and Finn Allen this year joined a long list of players who have opted for a casual contract instead of New Zealand Cricket's central contract in order to pursue opportunities within franchise cricket. "NZC is working with the players and they are trying to come up with a solution that's best suited for the players and New Zealand cricket as a whole," Southee said on the eve of New Zealand's one-off Test against Afghanistan.

"It is obviously a small cricketing country in terms of numbers. It will be great to have as many people as possible available for New Zealand, but the way the world is going, it is getting harder and harder," he added.

A challenging couple of months await the Black Caps as they play six Tests, including three against India, on the bounce in the subcontinent, where the conditions are vastly different to those back home.

"Conditions are foreign to what we are used to but we are excited about the chance of playing six Test matches on the bounce here in the subcontinent.

"It's exciting to play cricket in India, of course the weather has been the biggest challenge since we have been here and for the last few days," added Southee.

With spinners set to dominate, pace bowling captain Southee could also miss a game or two.

"It is a tough....obviously six Test matches in this part of the world and we would like to think spin plays majority of the part as a bowling unit and we got four quality pace bowlers which we have at our disposal as well.

"So