International off-spinner Paul Wiseman will play his cricket in Canterbury this summer.

Wiseman, 31, will play his club cricket for High School Old Boys and be available for the State Canterbury Wizards.

Wiseman has been living in Christchurch since April last year and his partner also lives here. If he continued to play for Otago he would have faced spending another five or six months away from home.

"I'm studying up here and there are more business opportunities here if that is what I decide to do," he said.

Wiseman, whose 90 first-class matches have seen him take 258 wickets at a cost of 31.59, has also previously played for Auckland. In his 14-Test career he has 34 wickets, including two five-wicket bags, at a cost of 43.82.

He told CricInfo the decision to play in Canterbury was one of the hardest in his life.

"The Otago team has been more like a family. We are a great bunch of friends, we all lived close together in Dunedin and have been close mates," he said.

Wiseman told the Otago side on Monday night before Otago started its four-day programme at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University.

"Their support was fantastic. I have really enjoyed my time with Otago.

"But there is a great opportunity here in Canterbury under Sharpey [coach Michael Sharpe]. There is competition for places even without the New Zealand players here," he said.

Reaction to his decision to play in Canterbury had been "pretty positive" in Christchurch he said and he was looking forward to playing again when turning out in the first round of club cricket on Saturday. Former Canterbury player Geoff Allott is the Old Boys coach while Shane Bond and Warren Wisneski will be playing for the side.

"It's great to be on grass wickets so early in the season. It is a new, good and refreshing challenge," he said.

Wiseman admits that he didn't do his international aspirations too much good after the ankle injury he suffered in South Africa last year.

"I came back when I was not quite ready and it affected my performance. It was not the right thing to do," he said.

Wiseman has spent the winter trying to toughen things up around his ankle and feels it is getting stronger and stronger.

He enjoyed the chance to travel to India for the annual Buchi Babu tournament with the New Zealand A side and said it had been a great experience.

"We played as a team and the attitude was great. Everyone stood up when they had to and there was no doubt we were the best team there, and we should have been because of the number of internationals we had compared to the other teams," he said.

Wiseman will strengthen the spin bowling options open to the Canterbury selectors who have leg-spinners Aaron Redmond and Marcel McKenzie and left-arm spinner Carl Anderson available locally.

© CricInfo