First 13 Aces contracts announced for 2013/14 season

First 13 Aces contracts announced for 2013/14 season

The return of Jeet Raval and the inclusion of Tipene Friday are the main features of the first 13 Auckland Cricket contracts announced for the coming season.

The remaining players have all been in Aces colours before although it's the first time that Donovan Grobbelaar and Matt Quinn have been contracted.

The list of 13 players offered contracts is:

Dean Bartlett (Ellerslie)
Michael Bates (Suburbs New Lynn)
Craig Cachopa (Takapuna)
Lockie Ferguson (Parnell)
Tipene Friday (TBC)
Colin de Grandhomme (Howick Pakuranga)
Donovan Grobbelaar (Howick Pakuranga)
Gareth Hopkins (Parnell)
Anaru Kitchen (Waitakere)
Tim McIntosh (Parnell)
Matt Quinn (Cornwall)
Jeet Raval (Suburbs New Lynn)
Bhupinder Singh (Papatoetoe)

Left handed opening batsman Raval returns after one successful season for the Central Stags. He already has almost 1600 first class runs to his name for the Aces including 256 in just his second game against the Stags and he will bolster the Aces resources at the top of the order.

Friday arrives from Wellington where he was contracted last season and provides the Aces with another quality pace bowling option. A former Junior Tall Black he played a handful of games in all formats for the Firebirds before moving north.

The other new names on the list, Grobbelaar and Quinn, were regulars for the Aces last season especially in the short forms of the game.

Aces Coach Matt Horne was pleased with the balance in the 13 contracts announced.

"We're in the fortunate position of having five guys on Blackcaps contracts so that really gives us a great opportunity to offer Aces contracts to a wider range of players. We've got a really good mixture of proven performers and young talent that I think sets us up well for the coming season."

He was also excited about the return of Raval and being able to recognise players who had performed.

"We were sorry to lose Jeet last year so it's great to have a player with that kind of experience and talent back on board. It's also really pleasing to see players develop and guys like Grobbelaar and Quinn are ones who've really taken their opportunities when presented to them."

This announcement is the first round of contracts to be announced with players having until 2nd August to accept. The second round of contracts will be announced on 9th August with players having until 16th August to accept. The Aces have one more contract to offer to complete their full complement of 14.

ENDS

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