Neesham, Young and Blundell offered New Zealand central contracts

Neesham returns to the list after missing out in 2018-19, after putting in strong performances in one-day internationals and domestically for Wellington. Blundell is also part of the World Cup squad – he was called up after a late injury to Tim Seifert, who missed out on the contract list.

Young, the 26-year-old batsman, isn’t part of the squad, but was set to make his Test debut against Bangladesh before the final Test was called off.

The likes of Adam Milne, the paceman, Corey Anderson, the all-rounder, and George Worker, the batsman, were the ones to miss out, having been contracted last year.

“Jimmy had a very good season and made excellent progress with Wellington, New Zealand A and the Blackcaps. He’s made every post a winning one,” said Larsen.

“Will receives an offer on the basis of the sheer weight of runs he scored last season, both for New Zealand A and the Central Stags. He would’ve received his first Test cap in March had it not been for the match being cancelled because of the Christchurch attack.

“Tom has acted as a back-up for BJ Watling on the tour of UAE, has recently played for New Zealand A and is in the World Cup squad as the wicket-keeping understudy for Tom Latham. We see this offer as a strong vote of confidence in his future.”

Central contract list 2019-20: Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, James Neesham, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, Will Young.