"Flexi contracts just make it a bit untidy" - Mike Hesson on NZC offering Trent Boult casual playing agreement

Former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson reckons Trent Boult's casual contract to play for the Black Caps is 'untidy'. Hesson feels an increase in franchise contracts every year for a player exacerbates the situation.

Boult, who sacrificed his New Zealand central contract last year, will turn out for Mumbai Indians New York in the inaugural season of the United States Major League Cricket, starting in July.

The 33-year-old wasn't in the central contract list announced by NZC last week and was instead offered a casual playing agreement.

Speaking to Sky Sport’s No Boundaries Show, Hesson said that he's against the idea of flexi contracts as he expressed their pitfalls:

"If you want the IPL and two or three or four other tournaments as well, you probably can’t have everything, and that’s a decision you’ve got to make at the start of the year, and I just think the flexi contracts just make it a bit untidy.

"It just gets really untidy when you’ve got 20 contracts or however many is on that (NZC) list now, and then you have an extra one, and, next year, you might have three extra ones, and it just gets untidy.”

Black Caps manager Gary Stead has strongly hinted at Boult's inclusion for the 2023 World Cup edition later this year in India. Stead also indicated the left-arm seamer's return to Test cricket, having not played since June 2022 against England.

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"It does open up a whole can of worms" - Mike Hesson

Mike Hesson (Image Credits: Getty)

Hesson added that New Zealand might have to move to England's strategy of offering different contracts, depending on player conditions:

"Under the current (NZC) model, it doesn’t. You get ranked in three different forms, and you add the points up, and that’s your number, and everyone has known that, and it’s actually worked pretty well for an extended period of time.

"This flexi contract, it might work really well for Trent, and it might actually work well for New Zealand Cricket, but it does open up a whole can of worms."

Boult last played for New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2022.