Mitchell Santner's sense of national duty outweighs lucrative BBL pull

New Zealand’s white‑ball skipper Mitchell Santner has declined a lucrative Big Bash League (BBL) offer, choosing instead to prioritise his international commitments. Santner is keen to represent New Zealand in the upcoming home series against India, which features five ODIs, five T20Is and two Test matches. The Blackcaps will then tour Australia for a four-match Test series which will overlap with the BBL.

As first reported by News Corp, Adelaide Strikers tabled a tempting two‑year deal, but Santner’s desire to continue playing Test cricket and to lead the Blackcaps in white‑ball formats outweighed the financial appeal.

“When you look ahead to the summer we’ve got, India here for white ball and Tests and Australia away – there’s not many bigger than that – it’s quite an exciting time,” Santner told the New Zealand Herald. “I’d like to still be part of that.”

“The offer was good, I’m not going to lie. They knew it would have to be a good offer for me to entertain it with contracting and what would come up. I did entertain the thought of it, but coming back to what we’ve got coming up, even if I’m not going to play every game of Test cricket, I still feel like there’s a role for me.”

Santner added that he wanted to continue as captain and did not feel comfortable accepting a casual contract while retaining the leadership role.

“I don’t want to give up captaincy,” he said. “If that was part of the deal, it was a no brainer for me. There were chats that it could have worked. But for me, sitting without a central contract and trying to captain, I don’t know if that would sit right at this stage.”

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has been more progressive than most boards in embracing franchise cricket and offering casual contracts that allow players to pursue opportunities without shutting the door on national selection.

Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne and Mark Chapman are all currently on casual playing agreements.