Ben Guild: Best and worst of times at Bay of Plenty cricket

Former Bay of Plenty coach Ben Williams, left, has a track record of helping develop talented local players like Black Caps star Kane Williamson. Photo / John Borren

THE timing, and symmetry, were downright Dickensian.

Word from two different cricketing associations, altering the immediate future of the Bay of Plenty men's side, arriving within hours of each other.

At about 10:30am on Friday players around the Bay of Plenty learned that senior coach Ben Williams, arguably the most successful coach in the history of Bay of Plenty cricket, had quit.

A few short hours later, a forwarded Northern Districts release hit Facebook revealing Mount Maunganui spearhead Tony Goodin to be the 15th and final player to be named in the first round of contracts alongside fellow first-times Joe Carter and Bharat Popli.

The latter, confirming the Bay at full strength is first class in every sense of the word, was a triumph for the sterling work that has been done over a great number of years by provincial coaches and administrators.

The former, coming from an association keen to get on the front foot over Williams' departure, marked the end of an era.

"Ben has decided not to coach the senior men's team this season," the newsletter, written by chief executive Paul Read begins.

"He no longer believes he can contribute effectively with the current management.

"The board and I are fully aware of Ben's views and while we would have preferred to continue to try and work together to resolve his concerns, we can understand his decision to step aside.

"There are no ill-feelings towards Ben from Bay of Plenty Cricket and he's been a passionate and successful coach for the senior men's team over the past three years."

The newsletter goes on to laud Williams' "enormous contribution" to cricket - including coaching the side to the Hawke Cup and seeing numerous players go on to higher honours - and noted his habit of often giving promising players free or cheap training and mentoring despite it undermining his Te Puna based cricket academy.

The announcement ends with a pledge that the Bay's relationship with the academy will remain intact and that the association will look into a coaching plan for the upcoming season.

The release hinted at discord from Williams' side and was effective in demonstrating how an entity can fall victim to its own success.

Indeed, this upcoming season has the potential to be one of the best and worst for the team in a number of years.

Depending on form, favour and scheduling, Bharat Popli, Joe Carter, Daniel Flynn, Kane Williamson, Tony Goodin, Dean Brownlie, Trent Boult, Jono Boult, Corey Anderson, Graeme Aldridge and Brett Hampton may not be walking over the boundary rope often for the Bay this season.

To put that into perspective, that equates to a bunch of promising first class cricketers, the ninth best test bowler in the world, a guy with a real shot at being the country's best ever test batsman, an allrounder with the fastest ever one day international hundred who went for more than a million bucks in the IPL, a guy with a test hundred in South Africa and a former Black Caps opening batsman and bowler apiece for good measure.

The new coach may very well find he has an embarrassment of riches he cannot spend.

It was the the best of times, it was the the worst of times ...