April 15, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1429

WELLINGTON, April 14: New Zealand’s cricket authorities have discarded four batsmen from their roster of 20 contracted players, following poor batting performances by the Test side in recent series.

Matthew Bell, Craig Cumming, Michael Papps and Matthew Sinclair will not be offered New Zealand contracts for the year starting in June, reflecting the selectors’ frustration with the batting line-up.

Included for the first time in the list of contracted players, released on Monday, were batsman Aaron Redmond, rewarded for averaging over 40 runs an innings in domestic first-class cricket.

Also winning the contracts were Daniel Flynn, who debuted for New Zealand in Twenty20 and one-day matches during the recently-ended season, Jesse Ryder and Tim Southee.

Players who missed out on contracts can still play their way into the team through domestic first class performances, New Zealand team manager Lindsay Crocker said.

Contracted players:

Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, James Marshall, Chris Martin, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori.—AFP