New Zealand Cricket name replacements for Devon Conway and Finn Allen in central contract list

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Devon Conway and Finn Allen have been replaced by Nathan Smith and Josh Clarkson in the central contract list of New Zealand Cricket (NZC). Conway and Allen had opted out of the central contracts to pursue franchise cricket.

Both Nathan Smith and Josh Clarkson played for New Zealand in the Under-19 World Cup 2016 in Bangladesh, alongside fellow contracted stars Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra and Ben Sears.

26-year-old Nathan Smith is a handy all-rounder with 1919 runs in 53 first-class matches at an average of 27.02. He has hit one hundred and three fifties in red-ball cricket. He has a handy batting average of 26.42 in List A cricket, and a strike rate of 128.49 in T20s.

Smith has also picked 144, 55 and 65 first-class, List A and T20 wickets respectively with his medium pace bowling. The Oamaru-born cricketer was named the Men’s Domestic Player of the Year at the ANZ NZC Awards in March.

"The 26-year-old was a standout performer in the Firebirds winning Plunket Shield campaign, leading the competition wicket-taking charts with 33 wickets at just 17, including career-best first-class figures of 6-36 against Canterbury," NZC wrote about Smith in their release.

Further, Josh Clarkson is a batting all-rounder, who has already made his New Zealand debut. He made his ODI debut in December last year against Bangladesh. The 27-year-old made his T20I debut against Australia in February 2024. He has played three ODIs, and six T20I games till date.

"The hard-hitting allrounder broke into BLACKCAPS contention off the back of a successful 2022-23 domestic campaign where his all-round performances helped his Central Stags lift both the Plunket Shield and the Ford Trophy," NZC said.

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead revealed that Nathan Smith was being closely observed for a while, and also praised Josh Clarkson.

“Nathan’s been on our radar for a while having been a significant performer in domestic cricket for some time. He’s been particularly impressive in red ball cricket and we think he has the skills to be successful in international cricket when he gets a chance," Stead said.

“Josh has been involved in both white ball squads over the past twelve months which shows the strides he’s made in his game. He’s a hard-hitting player with plenty of skills and has shown in his chances so far that he can offer a lot with bat and ball on the international stage. Josh will provide depth and adds value given the volume of white ball cricket on the horizon," he added.