Northern Districts have announced the first 14 of their playing contracts for the 2017-18 season. The final 15th contract will be announced in the coming weeks.

Returning to ND is seam bowler Brent Arnel having played for Wellington for 3 seasons.  New to the contracted list is former New Zealand Under 19 representative Brett Randell who debuted for ND in the Ford Trophy against Canterbury in January with figures of 4/34.

Chairman of Selectors Pat Malcon is optimistic that they have selected the right mix of youth and experience within the line-up, with Arnel and Randell adding strength to their bowling attack.

"Brent Arnel had an outstanding season for Wellington last year and brings added experience to our pace bowling attack - we will be calling on his leadership and maturity to mentor our younger pace bowlers and he is a valuable acquisition for all formats of the game, while Brett Randell showed signs of potential of becoming a very fine pace bowler."

ND senior players Daniel Flynn and Anton Devcich are back in the fold having suffered hip and leg injuries last season and Malcon is positive that they will be back to full fitness in time for the Summer.   Says Malcon "Flynn and Devcich are showing good signs of recovery from their injury concerns last season. We have had very good reports and all is looking well ."

Northern Districts Contracted List for 2017-18 (one to be added):

Brent Arnel

James Baker (Hamilton)

Dean Brownlie (Bay of Plenty)

Anton Devcich (Hamilton)

Daniel Flynn (Bay of Plenty)

Zak Gibson (Waikato Valley)

Brett Hampton (Bay of Plenty)

Nick Kelly (Counties Manukau)

Scott Kuggeleijn (Hamilton)

Daryl Mitchell (Hamilton)

Bharat Popli (Bay of Plenty)

Brett Randell (Northland)

Tim Seifert (Waikato Valley)

Josef Walker (Hamilton)