That is how the advertisement could read.
The Otago Volts have several contract spots to fill and there does not seem to be much of a queue.
The first round of domestic contracts are due to be announced next week and the Volts have some openings.
Batter Josh Finnie, all-rounder Michael Rippon and seamer Michael Rae have all left the fold.
Finnie retired at the end of last season and Otago had a ready-made replacement in Thorn Parkes.
Parkes went uncontracted last season but impressed when he got opportunities.
The left-hander was Otago’s second leading scorer in the Plunket Shield with 529 runs at an average of 37.78.
Go ahead and ink in his name.
Finding a replacement for Rae and Rippon is proving a lot harder. A source close to the team said the camp has basically given up on finding a like-for-like replacement for Rae.
Rae has relocated to Christchurch and has thrown his kit bag in with Canterbury. He might not see a lot of action, though.
Canterbury has such a large stockpile of seamers — so large one quick-witted cricket tragic suggested on social media Canterbury could rebuild the cathedral out of medium pacers.
Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell and Matt Henry are contracted nationally, but Canterbury can also call on Sean Davey, Zak Foulkes, Ed Nuttall, Will O’Rourke, Fraser Sheat, Henry Shipley and Angus McKenzie.
You would think one or two of them would be open to shifting south for the summer, but not so, apparently.
The word is Canterbury is contracting most of them. And in worse news, despite efforts to lure a seamer away from other associations, there have not been any takers.
According to our source, Otago has decided to offer Rae’s contract spot to the next best available player, who is understood to be an all-rounder.
That means Otago will be heavily reliant on Jacob Duffy to carry the seam attack.
If he gets injured, or is called into the Black Caps or the New Zealand A set-up, the Volts will be left vulnerable.
Travis Muller is the most experienced seamer outside Duffy. He had a decent first-class season in 2022-23, claiming 21 wickets at 33.19.
But Jarrod McKay (eight wickets at 45.62) and all-rounder Jake Gibson (seven at 62.71) struggled last summer. Andrew Hazeldine only played one first-class game for the Volts and Matt Bacon has not played any first-class cricket since November 2021.
That is a lean stable of first-class seamers, which means Otago might have to draw on some club players.
Arguably the only players capable of making the step up at this stage would be Tommy Clout, Toby Hart and Kaleb McKay.
Clout has played a first-class game and a couple of list A matches for Otago.
But there must be increasing frustration emerging in the Otago camp about New Zealand Cricket’s unwillingness to step in and direct players south.
It is not a healthy situation for New Zealand Cricket when some associations can put players in storage and others have to dip into the club cricket pool.
Put simply, it just means the best 66 players are not getting to play each week.
To add a little more niggle, Rippon is heading to Canterbury as well. All-rounders of his ilk are rare, so he is another player who cannot be easily replaced.
His departure leaves Otago with just one specialist spinner — left-armer Ben Lockrose.
Black Cap Glenn Phillips and star all-rounder Dean Foxcroft bowl off-breaks. But neither can stake a claim as a specialist.
Otago will likely have to spend one of its 16 contract spots on a second specialist spinner to replace Rippon.
Otago Volts
Possible 2023-24 contracts
Matt Bacon, Max Chu, Jacob Cumming, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Jake Gibson, Andrew Hazeldine, Llew Johnson, Ben Lockrose, Jarrod McKay, Travis Muller, Thorn Parkes, Dale Phillips, Hamish Rutherford, two to add.
