Arguing NZ's contracts list

In a strong piece for Fairfax News, Jonathan Millmow questions the exclusion of Mark Gillespie and Neil Wagner from New Zealand's central contracts list.

Gillespie is the most intimidating bowler in the country, his mixture of bumpers and fast full outswingers a proven recipe for wickets, albeit at some cost. He is not everyone's cup of tea. He is 32 and injury-prone, but he had done enough.

Wagner is the most respected quick bowler in domestic cricket. He is a fine practitioner of reverse swing and four seasons on the trot has taken 40-plus wickets for Otago.

Daniel Richardson takes the opposite view in the New Zealand Herald, arguing that neither Wagner nor Gillespie had done enough to merit a contract.

This is the same Neil Wagner who is yet to play a single game of international cricket and the same injury-prone Mark Gillespie who is currently battling an ankle ailment.

Granted, Wagner looks like he could be a player of genuine quality at test level and being a left-armer, he offers something different but to contract a guy who is yet to prove himself would be nonsense.

On the other hand, while Gillespie's 11 wickets against South Africa in the final two tests of the home summer in March were eye-catching, the fact remains he is a bowler who turns 33 this October and admits he regularly plays in a great deal of pain.