The veteran Black Caps James Franklin and Darryl Tuffey have lost their contracts with New Zealand Cricket being among seven of last year's nationally contracted players sacked.
The acting national selection manager Mark Greatbatch maintains the changes to the contract list of 20 it shows there's a number of players contesting for top contracts.
But he concedes it also indicates a high level of failure among New Zealand's top players.
Greatbatch says they had a pretty tough year and if the same players are picked they'll get the same results.
But he says old hands can still get back in as a contract's not a guarantee of selection.
The newcomers are Reece Young, Rob Nicol, Trent Boult and Luke Woodcock , while Daniel Flynn and Neil Broom are both back after missing out last season.
The others to miss out are Brent Arnel, Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins, Tim McIntosh, and Jeetan Patel while Scott Styris has retired from international play.
The contracted players are: Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills. Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling and Kane Williamson.
