NZ Cricket 2013/14 contracts

Monday's announcement of the 20 players contracted to the New Zealand national cricket team provides a once a year chance to examine where the game planners feel their team is headed in the coming year. The list of 20 players doesn't preclude selecting players from outside the list, but it provides a guaranteed base income for the highest-ranked (male) players in the country and signals that those outside the top 20 need to improve their game to challenge for a spot.

This year's announcement saw Tom Latham, Hamish Rutherford, Mitchell McClenaghan, Corey Anderson, Colin Munro and Bruce Martin join the list. Departures from the last contract (including two retirements) were Daniel Vettori (taking a year out to recover from injury), Chris Martin, Jacob Oram, James Franklin, Andrew Ellis, Daniel Flynn, Rob Nicol, Tarun Nethula and Kruger van Wyk. It might be interesting to note that of the 20 contracts, five are held by non-New Zealand-born players, with four South African-born players (Watling, Wagner, Munro and Elliott) plus Brownlie, who came from Australia in 2009.

NZ Cricket does not publish the actual order of the 20-strong contract list, which is diplomatic of them because the list ranking determines the cricketers' base salary, with each step on the ladder earning more than the one beneath. Test performances and potential are supposed to be weighted above performances in the shorter forms of the game, reflecting that the side needs some players who are not suited to limited overs cricket. Here's my guess at how the top 20 list might be ranked, based on the assumption that captain Brendon McCullum must be ranked no.1 and the presumed whisper from NZC to the Dominion Post writer at the weekend that listed the bottom five contract holders in a plausible order.

1	Brendon McCullum	11	Dean Brownlie
2	Ross Taylor	12	Peter Fulton
3	Tim Southee	13	Kyle Mills
4	Kane Williamson	14	Doug Bracewell
5	Martin Guptill	15	Neil Wagner
6	Trent Boult	16	Tom Latham
7	BJ Watling	17	Corey Anderson
8	Nathan McCullum	18	Colin Munro
9	Hamish Rutherford	19	Grant Elliott
10	Mitchell McClenaghan	20	Bruce Martin

The top contract reportedly earns an annual retainer of $181,425, with each rank below earning progressively about $6000 less, down to the bottom three contracts, which each earn a retainer of $73,000. This sounds like relatively modest rewards for playing international cricket, but in reality the additional match fees make a big difference.  For 2013/14 the match fees for the New Zealand men's team have been set at
NZ$7508 per test, $3250 per ODI and $2120 per T20I.

If you consider the number of games played by the contract holders in the past 12 months you gain a rough idea of how much they might be earning in a year's cricket. The rewards are considerable. Naturally, emerging players may only have played for part of the last season so their tally for 2013/14 may differ considerably. 

No.	Name	$Base	$Match	$Total?
1	Brendon McCullum	181,425	184,654	366,079
2	Ross Taylor	175,425	156,778	332,203
3	Tim Southee	169,425	125,792	295,217
4	Kane Williamson	163,425	173,204	336,629
5	Martin Guptill	157,425	134,272	291,697
6	Trent Boult	151,425	122,456	273,881
7	BJ Watling	145,425	123,356	268,781
8	Nathan McCullum	139,425	89,310	228,735
9	Hamish Rutherford	133,425	54,640	188,065
10	Mitchell McClenaghan	127,425	49,460	176,885
11	Dean Brownlie	121,425	67,572	188,997
12	Peter Fulton	115,425	39,660	155,085
13	Kyle Mills	109,425	70,090	179,515
14	Doug Bracewell	103,425	84,672	188,097
15	Neil Wagner	97,425	60,064	157,489
16	Tom Latham	91,425	22,610	114,035
17	Corey Anderson	85,425	13,850	99,275
18	Colin Munro	73,000	34,218	107,218
19	Grant Elliott	73,000	30,240	103,240
20	Bruce Martin	73,000	30,032	103,032

To reiterate - the '$Match' column above is a guess at game fees earned based on last year's number of international appearances. While the calculations and the contract rankings are supposition, they do show that the idea of New Zealand cricketers as underpaid novices is a myth. Even the lowest-ranked players can earn a healthy $100,000 salary. And at the top levels, senior players attract hefty sums: using the above guesses, the take-home weekly pay of the captain Brendon McCullum might be around $4850 per week, while veteran short-form bowler Kyle Mills might earn $2450 per week. 

This amount of pay is hardly world-shattering when compared with the millions earned by cricketers in India, England and Australia. But it might be worth remembering how much some younger players are taking home: 24-year-old Tim Southee potentially earning $3900 per week; 22-year-old Kane Williamson taking home $4450. Then the next time a high-living scandal emerges along the lines of Doug Bracewell's foot injury, remember these are young men flush with cash, and sometimes that can contribute to poor decision-making on and off the field.