James Franklin did well in the Indian Premier League, but not-so-impressive performances for New Zealand cost him a central contract, along with six other players, in the 20-strong list announced in Wellington, on Friday.
"A set criteria is used to rank players across all three forms of the game, with Test cricket receiving twice the weighting of ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. The players with the highest aggregate score are then offered NZC contracts," the NZC said after announcing contracts for the period August 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012.
Reece Young, Rob Nicol, Trent Boult and Luke Woodcock are the newcomers in the contracted players list while Daniel Flynn and Neil Broom returned to the list after missing out last year and Hamish Bennett remains an NZC contracted player after receiving an elevated contract in February 2011.
Brent Arnel, Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins, Tim McIntosh, Jeetan Patel and Daryl Tuffey, Franklin and Jamie How, who received an elevated contract in February, missed out.
Scott Styris, who retired from international cricket, was not considered.
The 30-year-old Franklin, who played for Mumbai Indians and was man of the match in the third-place play-off which his side won against the Kolkata Knight Riders but that form was not enough to get him a contract.
Acting National selection manager Mark Greatbatch said the number of new players forcing their way into the top 20 is a good sign.
"Seven changes to the contracted list highlights the fact that there are a number of quality cricketers contesting for the top twenty contracts. That kind of competitiveness is good for our cricket," he said.
The contracted players: Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Neil Broom, Daniel Flynn, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock, Reece Young.