Rob Walter backs NZ20, says overseas stars could 'make competition stronger'

New Zealand coach Rob Walter believes that the country's plans to develop a privately-owned T20 league could pay off if it brings high-profile internationals to the game in New Zealand.

"The benefit lies in if you're able to get quality overseas professionals [in the playing XI], you essentially make your team better by four people. So you replace the four weakest cricketers with four internationally strong cricketers," Walter said ahead of New Zealand's T20 World Cup match against South Africa in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

"So it has to make the competition stronger just by nature of that. If, for instance, the NZ20 went that way, you'd make the competition stronger."

New Zealand are set to launch their league in January 2027, which will likely clash with several other leagues - chiefly, Australia's BBL and South Africa's SA20. While that could impact foreign player availability, if New Zealand are able to lure some of the best, Walter believes it could work in their favour. And he has first-hand experience of such from being in charge of South Africa's white-ball sides when they launched the SA20 in 2023 just as Walter was appointed.

The inaugural edition of the tournament was put on pause for a week so that South Africa could play in a must-win ODI series against England to qualify for that year's World Cup. The second season coincided with a Test series South Africa played in New Zealand (Walter was not New Zealand coach then). As a result, South Africa took a second-string side and lost, but still went on to claim the World Test Championship title in the same cycle.

Season two of the SA20 also helped Walter, as South Africa coach, pick the T20 World Cup 2024 squad that reached the final, as season four has done for South Africa's all-format coach Shukri Conrad select his T20 World Cup 2026 squad. And that hasn't been necessarily the biggest benefit of the franchise competition, according to Walter.

"We've seen the SA20 just reinvigorated cricket in the country - didn't it, in some way? The crowds were all of a sudden massive, and domestic cricketers became household names," he said.

Whether the same can happen for New Zealand is what Walter has questions over, especially as he is in favour of the existing structures but is open to change.

"The New Zealand T20 competition is very strong. I think it's undervalued from a strength point of view," he said. "But it's also because of the mechanics of it. We have smaller crowds in New Zealand, and that is part of also the allure of New Zealand cricket, really. It's relaxed and it's fun and it's enjoyable. But you don't get those massive crowds.

"And that wouldn't necessarily change if you change the competition. Obviously, the population size is small. But it would invest a greater interest in the game, potentially, because of the overseas pros that are there that make the game stronger. We know that the future will look different for the domestic competition in New Zealand. What that ends up looking like, I'm not sure at this point."