Otago has rewarded two of their young guns with their first domestic contracts.
Left-armer Thomas O’Connor and top-order batter Tom Jones have been contracted by the Volts for the 2026-27 season.
They have replaced left-arm pace bowler Andrew Hazeldine, who has been overlooked and has moved back to Christchurch, and all-rounder Jake Gibson, who has accepted a contract with Central Districts.
Batter Llew Johnson is also on the outs, while Jacob Duffy and Glenn Phillips are contracted centrally.
Otago coach Josh Tasman-Jones said the decision to contract O’Connor did not require a lot of thought.
The 21-year-old burst through with a series of extraordinary performances at the end of last season. His 13-wicket haul against Auckland captured everyone’s attention.
He almost single-handedly dragged Otago to their first Plunket Shield title since 1987-88.
“That’s exactly what you want from your guys that have come through our system,’’ Tasman-Jones said.
“He earned that contract — every bit of it.
“He is a young man of high character, high work ethic, who does everything you could ask from a coaching point of view.
“He’s got a skill set which doesn’t come around all that often, being a left-armer that can swing the ball and a hard-hitting lower middle order batter.
“He’s an exciting prospect. I think the sky is the limit.’’
Jones was an easy call as well. He scored a classy century on his first-class debut — the first Otago player to do so since Darren Broom in 2009 — and the former under-19 New Zealand captain ‘’has the skill set’’ to succeed.
“Again, this is a kid with high character who works really hard. That's the type of characters we really want to invest in going forward in our programme and in our contract list.”
Otago still have one spot open.
The likes of promising batter Hugo Bogue, seamer Toby Hart and all-rounder Ruben Clinton shape as the leading contenders.
Johnson, who has played 97 games across the three formats for Otago, was advised he would not be offered a contract and has decided to move on and pursue opportunities outside the province.
“He’s got immense talent, so it was a really tough call.
‘’He’s had a challenging couple of years with a couple of tough injuries. We really hope it works out for Louie and we’ll definitely be supporting him all the way.’’
Tasman-Jones said Otago had approaches from players outside the region. But he feels the group has a really promising future.
“We’re drawing a line in the sand because we really back and believe in the group we’ve got.’’
A good chunk of that group is under 23 and have their best years ahead, while there are also some players like Matt Bacon, Danru Ferns, Jack Boyle and Luke Georgeson who have been seasoning for longer.
The final contract is expected to be announced later this month.
Otago will assemble in September and begin their preparations for what promises to be an exciting season.
