New Zealand Cricket CEO David White expects 'out of contract' Trent Boult to play 2023 World Cup in India

Outgoing New Zealand Cricket CEO David White said he would be very surprised if ‘out of contract’ seamer Trent Boult is not part of the Kiwi squad for 2023 50-over World Cup in India. David said though the priority will remain to pick centrally-contracted players for the mega tournament later this year, he also expects Boult to be part of it following ‘positive conversations’ between them recently.

After spending a long spell at NZC, David, who is set to retire in August this year, revealed that Boult has also shown interest in representing the Black Caps in the longer formats after opting not to sign the central contract last year.

In August 2022, a World Cup hat trick taker, Boult decided against signing the central contract to spend more time with his family and continue playing and remaining available for franchise cricket all around the world.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

ALSO READ:IPL 2023: Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler fined 10% of match fee for breaching code of conduct

"We have made it very clear that priority is given to centrally-contracted players," White told New Zealand radio station Newstalk ZB this week. "That was the case during the summer. It is very important for the integrity of the competition and of the contracting model that we give priority to our centrally-contracted players.

"In saying that, we've had a lot of conversations with Trent over the last few weeks and months. I'd be very surprised if he wasn't representing New Zealand in the World Cup, and we're having very positive conversations with him," he added.

Besides, in a recent conversation with ESPNcricinfo, Boult further expressed his desire to still play at the highest level for his country, saying,

"I remember after the 2019 final, I said to Kane (Williamson) that we've got to be there again, come 2023 in India. One hundred percent, I've got that desire to be out there," Trent told ESPNcricinfo.

Meanwhile, David also commented on the latest players picking franchise cricket over international cricket crisis, saying he still believes we are far from this point – adding that many players across different countries still dream about representing their country in cricket. While those tend to pick franchise-based T20 tournaments ahead of playing for their countries are the largely the aged ones - something that doesn’t worry him much.

"I think that the players still say that Test cricket and representing their country is still the pinnacle. The majority of the players, that is certainly the case,” he said. "It would be fair to say that a lot of the players that are going into leagues are former (internationals), or (are) towards the end of their career. So I am not so concerned about that.”