Cricket: Provincial contracts given out

As expected, Jesse Ryder was offered a provincial cricket contract from Wellington today as the first round of domestic contracting took place.

Each major association can offer nine to 13 contracts at their discretion in the first round, and complete their contingent of 14 players with the second round of contracts being offered on August 9.

As is the case each season there has been a handful of player movements across the country, with Black Caps' Twenty20 specialist Roneel Hira leaving Auckland to take up a deal with Canterbury.

Former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Reece Young has returned to Auckland from Canterbury, while young stumper Bradley Cachopa has gone the other way.

Opening batsman Jeet Raval has moved from Auckland to Central Districts, while former international Lou Vincent has returned to take up a contract with Auckland, and pace bowler Andrew Mathieson has travelled from Northern Districts to CD.

Former Australian wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi has linked up with Wellington, after spending the past 10 years playing for Western Australia in Perth.

The domestic contracts being offered today commence on October 1.

Contracted players:

Auckland Aces

Dean Bartlett, Michael Bates, Colin de Grandhomme, Gareth Hopkins, Anaru Kitchen, Bruce Martin, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim McIntosh, Colin Munro, Bhupinder Singh, Daryl Tuffey, Lou Vincent, Reece Young

Canterbury Wizards

Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Brad Cachopa, Peter Fulton, Matt Henry, Roneel Hira, Tom Latham, Willie Lonsdale, Ryan McCone, Henry Nicholls, Shanan Stewart, Logan van Beek, George Worker

Central Stags

Carl Cachopa, Jamie How, Marty Kain, Andrew Mathieson, Adam Milne, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Jeet Raval, Dean Robinson, Mathew Sinclair, Bevan Small, Ben Smith, Ben Wheeler, William Young

Northern Knights

Graeme Aldridge, Corey Anderson, Brent Arnel, James Baker, Anton Devcich, James Marshall, Daryl Mitchell, Brad Wilson, Joseph Yovich

Otago Volts

Derek de Boorder, Nick Beard, Michael Bracewell, Darren Broom, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Mark Craig, James McMillan, Jimmy Neesham, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Neil Wagner, Sam Wells

Wellington Firebirds

Harry Boam, Josh Brodie, Grant Elliott, Mark Gillespie, Scott Kuggeleijn, Andy McKay, Stephen Murdoch, Michael Papps, Jeetan Patel, Michael Pollard, Luke Ronchi, Jesse Ryder, Luke Woodcock