Star Saints Premier all-rounder Lachie Harper has earned a Canterbury men's contract for the 2026/27 season following an impressive debut season in the red-and-black.
Lachie had been on the fringes of the side for some time, but with a sustained run of fitness and form stepped up another level last season. Firstly at club level where he struck 2 centuries and 4 fifties in 17 innings, scoring 616 runs at 41.07. He still finished 4th in the Saints runs aggregates despite representative duties taking him away for a third of the season. His bowling loads were managed, only sending down 65.4 overs but striking quickly and often, taking 18 wickets.
Lachie made his Canterbury debut in a Super Smash game against Northern Brave on the home turf of Hagley Oval in January, top scoring in a well-beaten side. His 42 off 27 balls set a new record in worldwide representative Twenty20 cricket for the highest score by a No. 10 on debut (and 5th highest score at that position). 4 games later he recorded the best figures of the Super Smash season (4-17 against Wellington).
His maiden List A (Ford Trophy) appearance came 5 days after finishing runners-up in the Super Smash final, again making a memorable debut impression. Still in T20 mode as Auckland chased a reduced target of 209 in 21 overs at Eden Park Outer Oval, Lachie cleaned up the mid-to-lower order with figures of 4-31 off 2.3 overs. Canterbury made another decider but came up empty-handed again with Lachie going wicketless in the Ford Trophy final against the Central Stags at the Basin Reserve, but it wrapped up a run of 13 white-ball rep games in less than 7 weeks.
Since central contracts came into being in 2002 for the men and 2013 for the women (2019 for domestic), 15 Saints have earned one (* indicates Black Caps or White Ferns contract; + indicates White Ferns Development contract):
| Player | Contracts | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Harris | 6 | 2002/03*, 2003/04*, 2004/05*, 2005/06*, 2006/07, 2007/08 |
| Chris Martin | 4 | 2002/03*, 2003/04, 2004/05*, 2009/10* |
| Stephen Cunis | 3 | 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06 |
| James Ward | 1 | 2004/05 |
| Michael Davidson | 1 | 2008/09 |
| Brad Cachopa | 2 | 2012/13, 2013/14 |
| Kyle Jamieson | 1 | 2014/15 |
| Amy Satterthwaite | 7 | 2015/16*, 2016/17*, 2017/18*, 2018/19*, 2019/20*, 2020/21*, 2021/22* |
| Lea Tahuhu | 8 | 2015/16*, 2016/17*, 2017/18*, 2018/19*, 2019/20*, 2020/21*, 2021/22*, 2022/23 |
| Thamsyn Newton | 2 | 2016/17*, 2017/18* |
| Nat Cox | 4 | 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 |
| Gabby Sullivan | 4 | 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22+, 2022/23 |
| Tyler Lortan | 1 | 2020/21 |
| Kate Sims | 1 | 2021/22 |
| Lachie Harper | 1 | 2026/27 |
- Note: some of these players earned contracts in other seasons while playing for other clubs and there are others not in the list who had played for Saints but earned their first contract later on.
