Newton completes contract list
Medium-pacer Ollie Newton has retained his Cricket Wellington contract on a list featuring three changes from last season.
Newton was the 15th and final name confirmed by Cricket Wellington yesterday as the six major associations all completed their lists for the coming season.
The 28-year-old from Upper Hutt was initially contracted by coach Bruce Edgar when he took over the job two years ago and remained on the payroll ever since.
With injuries hampering his progress, Newton’s only appearance for the Firebirds remains a Twenty20 match against Auckland in December 2015. He is one of several Firebirds currently touring India with the Hutt Hawks side, before the contracted players assemble on September 1.
The other 14 were already confirmed, with South African batsman Malcolm Nofal gaining his first contract after a prolific season where he was on the fringe of a first-class debut.
New recruits Michael Bracewell, from Otago, and Logan van Beek, from Canterbury, also join the payroll while from last season’s group Brent Arnel (to Northern Districts), Matt McEwan (to Auckland) and Michael Pollard (to Canterbury) all depart.
There was Wellington interest among the other sides, with Upper Hutt seamer Matt Bacon picking up an Otago contract. Bacon appeared close to gaining a Wellington contract last year but missed out while his club team-mate Newton made the list.
Central Districts gave their final two contract spots to Manawatu players, with injury-troubled seamer Bevan Small and batsman Mitch Renwick joining their list.
Meanwhile, Wellington teenager Amelia Kerr was the only White Fern named in a women’s World Cup tournament team following New Zealand’s disappointing showing.
The leg-spinner was chosen as 12th man in the team selected by Shashank Kisore and Annesha Ghosh on the widely read ESPN Cricinfo website.
‘‘While her Tawa College mates were busy taking mid-year exams in Wellington, Kerr redefined life goals for fellow 16-year-olds and delivered masterclasses in legspin,’’ the article said.
The White Ferns failed to make the semifinals of the tournament.