Kane Williamson, New Zealand freelancers commit to play T20 World Cup 2026

Five New Zealand players, including Kane Williamson, have signed casual contracts and will feature in the T20 World Cup 2026

Five New Zealand cricketers have signed casual contracts with the board, which means they will play in the T20 World Cup 2026. Lockie Ferguson, Kane Williamson, Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Tim Seifert have agreed to the terms of the casual contract. This also means the group will make themselves available for selection for the upcoming T20I series, with the exception of Williamson.

New Zealand boosted ahead of T20 World Cup 2026

As per New Zealand Cricket, the players are required to commit to playing the T20 World Cup in order to avail the casual contract. This also includes a specific number of series in build-up to the marquee tournament scheduled to be held in India next year. While Conway, Ferguson, Seifert and Allen will be available for selection for the series against Australia, England and West Indies, Williamson has made himself unavailable for the AUS series.

“With such a pinnacle event on the horizon we wanted to ensure our best T20 players were ready and available to push for inclusion. The message from the players is that playing for the BLACKCAPS is hugely important to them and I’m pleased we’ve been able to agree terms to have them casually contracted for the coming season,” the NZC CEO said.

Earlier in June, NZC had announced its central contract list for the 2025–26 season, with a clear plan on transition and investing in the future. The above mentioned five players, along with Jimmy Neesham and Adam Milne, remained uncontracted at the time of the announcement.

New Zealand Central Contract List

Contracted Players: Adithya Ashok, Michael Bracewell, Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Mitch Hay, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Muhammad Abbas, Henry Nicholls, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Will Young