The 26-year-old Northern Districts right-arm medium pacer was a loan player for Canterbury in the opening round on the Plunket Shield this week.
No-one in New Zealand Cricket was able to say whether it was the first time a contracted player had turned out for another province as a loan player.
But New Zealand Cricket's general manager of domestic cricket Andrew Rogers said no-one in the office could remember another example of that.
Hampton did not have a big impact on the match. He thumped 60 with the bat in the second innings but went wicketless and Otago won the game by seven wickets.
But his presence in the Canterbury playing XI has raised an issue around the rules regarding loan players.
Rogers acknowledged the process was ``ad hoc'' and could do with some tidying up.
``Ordinarily, the default rule is once a player has played for a MA [major association] in that season they can only play for that MA,'' he said.
``But there is a mechanism for loan players if there is exceptional circumstances.
``An MA can approach us and say: `Look, we've spoken to another MA, they have a player who is not playing and we have a need'.
``We assess it and see if the reasons are really valid. There was an exceptional circumstance with Canterbury having so many injuries.
``They were thinking of getting a player from Australia and that does not really help New Zealand cricket.
``They could have got a player out of club cricket but then you worry about the fact they have not necessarily been part of the pre-season loading and training, or do you use a player who has come out of another MA when everyone is happy about that.''
Otago coach Rob Walter said his side had no issue with Canterbury using a loan player. His philosophy was he wanted to see the best players in the country playing first-class cricket.
However, Walter's concern was around transparency.
``There needs to be some serious policy around it because if there is a grey area then people can use it to their advantage and I think we have to be careful of that.
``But the end point must be to have the best players playing week in and week out.
``But as a coach you are trying to build your best squad. If you do that, you need to be rewarded for that - not have guys sitting in your system waiting to play for another team.''
Rogers acknowledged there were no clear criteria to fall back on when making a decision whether to grant a loan player.
``There have been a number of conversations about formalising the loan player arrangement and it seems to be a topic that has been around for a long time. But there is no formal mechanism other than on an ad hoc basis.
``The stakeholders generally feel it is the right thing for cricket. We don't want to see it being abused so it is really about if it is done for the right circumstances.''
Rogers said the master agreement between New Zealand Cricket and the New Zealand Cricket Players Association comes to an end next year and that would be the ideal time to formalise the loan player arrangement.
