Australia great Ricky Ponting thinks players will follow the recent lead of New Zealand veteran Trent Boult and turn their back on contracts with their country in favour of playing in domestic leagues, but says it can still prove to be a positive move for all parties if is handled well.
Boult dropped a bombshell recently when he announced he would not take up a central contract with New Zealand Cricket, with the experienced quick instead opting to spend more time with his family and have the ability to participate in domestic T20 leagues around the world.
Boult shock: New Zealand pacer turns back on central contract
While the decision doesn't officially end Boult's international career, New Zealand Cricket indicated they would favour contracted players when selecting squads in the future.
Ponting discussed Boult’s recent decision with host Sanjana Ganesan on the most recent episode of The ICC Review and indicated the New Zealander’s defection would likely be the tip of the iceberg as more players follow suit.
"I think it's inevitable now with the amount of T20 domestic tournaments that are popping up all around the world now," Ponting said on The ICC Review.
"It's just getting harder and harder for these guys to maintain the full schedule of international cricket.
"And for someone like Trent Boult, and no disrespect to New Zealand at all, but I'm sure their national contracts are probably only reflective of maybe what he would make in one of these T20 domestic tournaments.
"He's coming towards the end of his career and he's got to think about his family and the financial side of the game now, probably more than ever."
Ponting is well aware of the amount of money available to players in domestic T20 leagues, with the former Australia captain currently the coach of Delhi Capitals in the IPL and head of strategy with the Hobart Hurricanes in Australia's local Big Bash League.
Part of Ponting's role with both teams is to attract the best players to his side and the Australian expects Boult to prove a hot commodity for domestic competitions around the world.
"He's right on top of his game as well in all formats, so wherever he goes and chooses to play, if it's T20 stuff that he's talking about, then he'll be in very high demand. There's no doubt about it," Ponting noted.
"With the Big Bash draft coming up, I reckon pretty much every franchise or every team in Australia would have been reaching out to Trent Boult to make sure that he got his name into that player draft because he would be in high demand.
"The West Indians, I think are probably the ones that started this years ago with their preference for the T20 game and their ability to make big money and other tournaments. I think we'll read and hear more about this in the coming years."
But Ponting thinks both player and country can prosper going forward, when further cases similar to Boult’s arise in the future.
"I think it depends on how the national teams are going to handle a situation like this with Trent...he said that he feels that that could jeopardise how much he plays for New Zealand, but I don't think it will," Ponting said.
"He's too important to New Zealand and if he doesn't miss a lot of domestic cricket and he's still available for selection, as long as they manage that well and maybe just pick him in the series that, the bigger type Test series that they play, then I think the that the national teams and the national selectors and the individual player can make it work to a certain degree.
"Trent will have to give up something or he wouldn't have made the decision that he's made. But I think if it's handled well, then there's no reason why they can't both co-exist in a reasonable manner."
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