Otago look to fill the gaps

Otago will be looking for players outside of their region in the coming weeks as New Zealand Domestic teams look to complete 2003/2004 squads.

A worrying trend has begun to emerge in the southern province with a large number of players leaving or retiring in the past 2 seasons.
Mark Richardson, Matt Horne, Brendon McCullum & Paul Wiseman have all headed north in their bids to gain selection for the Black Caps. While earlier in the year Shayne O'Connor made the shock announcement that he was calling it quits with cricket after being plagued by injury.

Adding further salt to the wound, former Pakistan International player Mohammad Wasim has confirmed he will not be returning next season after a change in status.

Canterbury wicket-keeper Gareth Hopkins has decided to make a straight swap with Brendon McCullum and move to Otago which means Otago now need to fill 3 vacancies.

Although there is little transfer news at this stage, it is rumoured that Paul Hitchcock and Michael Mason are ironically considering moving south from Wellington & Central Districts respectively in order to push for places in the New Zealand team.

Posted by Tim