New Zealand fast-bowler Trent Boult has left the cricket world utterly surprised by deciding to be released from New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC) central contract. NZC confirmed the decision on Wednesday (August 10), stating that the star pacer is no more a centrally contracted player.
The main reasons behind Boult’s decision is to spend more time with his family and be available to play in domestic leagues around the world. And while Boult’s glittering international career is still not over, NZC have made it clear that the star pacer won’t be given priority over the centrally contracted players. It won’t be very surprising if Boult does not play too many games for New Zealand now.
“This has been a really tough decision for me and I’d like to thank NZC for their support in getting to this point,” Boult said.
“Playing cricket for my country was a childhood dream and I’m so proud of everything I’ve been able to achieve with the Black Caps over the past 12 years. Ultimately this decision is about my wife Gert and our three young boys. Family has always been the biggest motivator for me and I feel comfortable with putting it first and preparing ourselves for life after cricket,” he added.
Cricket world reacts to Trent Boult’s decision:
Trent Boult’s decision has definitely left the cricket world absolutely shocked. The left-arm pacer is currently the No.1 ranked ODI bowler. He has been one of the best all-format bowlers in the world for nearly a decade now. So far, Boult has taken 317 Test wickets, 169 at ODI level, and 62 in T20I cricket.
Meanwhile, the cricket world did not take too long to react to Trent Boult’s decision. As soon as NZC confirmed the news, fans and experts took to Twitter to give their reactions. Most of the fans and experts have opined that cricketers will follow Boult’s path in the coming days due to franchise cricket.
Here are some of the reactions:
The decisions that Quinton de Kock, and specifically Trent Boult, have made, point to a future of shorter international careers and more players happy to be part of the gig economy. With young families, it isn't easy to play both, international cricket and T20 leagues.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 10, 2022
MASSIVE NEWS in the context of proliferation of franchise cricket. Quite possible that Trent Boult will prefer ILT20 or some other franchise cricket around the time New Zealand will be touring Pakistan for Test series in Dec-Jan. More players likely to take this route in future. https://t.co/LxSGh9Xtp1
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 9, 2022
Trent Boult pulling out of his New Zealand central contract is huge news: every chance he has played his last Test and that their loss will be Rajasthan, Paarl and Barbados Royals’ gain
He only turned 33 last month and is arguably one of very few world-class three-format quicks
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) August 9, 2022
Trent Boult wants out from New Zealand's central contract. International cricket will soon become an audition for T20 leagues around the world.
— Shubh Aggarwal (@shubh_chintak) August 9, 2022
While I fully understand the dynamics of int. cricket, what saddens me the most is that we might not see Trent Boult feature in Test cricket for NZ. That is his strongest format. Watching him swing the new red cherry is a delight and I was not ready for that to be taken away.
— Shubh Aggarwal (@shubh_chintak) August 9, 2022
Trent Boult no longer a Black Cap.
Withdrawing to “commit more time to domestic cricket” ? and “time with his family”.
Sounds like he’s committing to becoming a fulltime global T20/100 mercenary.
Will he be the 1st of many?
Farewell test cricket I fear ..— Martin Devlin (@martindevlinnz) August 9, 2022
Quinton De Kock, Ben Stokes and now Trent Boult. The dynamics of world cricket are changing steadily due a combination of too much cricket, personal and financial reasons.
This trend isn’t stopping anytime soon, especially among fast bowlers and players > 30. https://t.co/8rERsAZFqp
— Mayank (@freehit_mj) August 9, 2022
Big News and an Alarming situation for all the boards. Players preferring Leagues instead of National duty is massive. https://t.co/L5t6IegMCv
— Zeeshan Qayyum (@XeeshanQayyum) August 10, 2022
Family first. Franchise leagues second. Then comes international cricket. Boult is the latest to join the list that will keep getting longer https://t.co/cTqFhnkKQI
— Amol Karhadkar (@karhacter) August 10, 2022
reduce the number of international tours and matches or else we are going to lose out on great talents prematurely https://t.co/NxQt0InN94
— ? (@iFunkaar) August 10, 2022
A reflection of what players feel about International cricket. ICC needs to be more proactive and realise that cricket's future needs to be a healthy mix of international and franchise based league cricket https://t.co/7rXlufs5Mw
— Akshay Ramesh (@iamnotakshayr) August 10, 2022
An indication of the times we are in now. T20 leagues around the world will make players cherry pick international cricket https://t.co/9PY17krJUA
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) August 10, 2022