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'It's Never Great...': Latham Criticises Kane Williamson For Declining Central Contract

Tom Latham On Kane Williamson- (X.com)Tom Latham On Kane Williamson- (X.com)

With the growing dominance of T20 cricket, the other formats are being sidelined and even the players prefer to give most of their time to the shortest format of the game.

Meanwhile, with growing T20 leagues around the world, several boards have faced issues of players giving up on central contracts to focus on franchise cricket. 

This problem heavily exists in New Zealand cricket, as Trent Boult let go of the central contract a couple of years ago and featured for the Blackcaps as a freelance cricketer.

Recently, for the 2024-25 annual contracts, the likes of Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne made themselves unavailable for a contract for the coming season.  Meanwhile, Williamson has been offered a 'casual playing contract’ by NZC'.

In the latest events, New Zealand's white-ball skipper Tom Latham has criticised the board for their central contract structure and also hit out at players for choosing franchise cricketers over international games. 

"I don't know what the right system is, there is a lot of flexibility within our contracts at the moment," Latham told journalists.

"But think with the changing landscape of cricket, I'm sure it will be something that New Zealand Cricket and the players' association look at and try and come up with something. It's never great when you miss guys of Kane's calibre, but it gives opportunities to other guys to put their best foot forward."

At present, Latham is nursing a finger injury and has been out of action for almost a month.