Tony Goodin's superb performances with the ball for Bay of Plenty last summer have been rewarded with a Northern Knights contract.
The tall pace bowler from the Mount Maunganui club has finally broken through for his chance to make it at first-class level and it is no surprise. The Bay of Plenty Cricket Player of the Year obliterated the all-time most wickets in a season record for the Bay over the 2012-2013 season with 44 wickets in 12 appearances. He took 18 wickets in the ND Fergus Hickey Rosebowl competition and an extraordinary 26 wickets in just four Hawke Cup matches that played a key part in Bay of Plenty winning and then defending the iconic prize.
Such was his success with the ball that he rocketed into the Bay of Plenty all-time wickets list, to sit in sixth equal place with 91 wickets after just five seasons.
Goodin debuted for Bay of Plenty in 2007/08 and rounded out the 2012/13 summer in head-turning style with a match-winning double of 7-42 and 5-91 against South Canterbury on a slow, turning pitch at Rotorua's Smallbone Park that did little to assist pace bowlers.
He took the first three wickets of the match without a run being scored and his ultimate 12-wicket haul helped ensure undefeated Bay of Plenty retained the Hawke Cup for next season.
Goodin appeared briefly for the Knights in the Plunket Shield at the beginning of last season.
He made his first-class debut stepping in for Graeme Aldridge, who was recovering from ankle surgery, against the Otago Volts at Seddon Park - his sole first-class appearance to date.
The 24-year-old is finishing the final semester of a Sports and Leisure degree at Waikato University. He says he was hopeful he would get a contract, especially with former Mount Maunganui player James Pamment appointed as Knights coach.
"With a new coach you never know what is going to happen. I just had to work hard in the off season and try to do all I could to get in there," said Goodin.
He agrees his remarkable performances in the Hawke Cup clinched his professional contract.
"Obviously that was a step up from normal Bay of Plenty games and you get noticed more in three-day games. I got a little taste with the Knights last summer and now I have to try and make my way into the starting team. That is my next aim but there are a few bowlers in there ahead of me."
Goodin and Pamment have known each other a long time - Pamment first coached Goodin when he was a seven-year-old junior at the Mount Maunganui club.Pamment says Goodin's consistent pace and attitude has kept him on the radar.
"We wanted to add another seam bowler to add balance to our core group and Tony was very clearly the next cab off the rank," said Pamment.
"Although he may not be as well known to our supporters, he has been in and around the squad for the last three years, and enjoyed an outstanding season last summer for Bay of Plenty. He broke the Bay of Plenty wickets record by delivering good, straight line and length consistently and since then he has impressed us further by getting really stuck into his winter strength and conditioning programme. He is looking really trim and strong in our pre-season trainings and we expect that to bear fruits."
The return of Scott Styris and James Baker completes the new-season list of 14 contracted Northern Knights players.
Styris, an overseas player for the Sussex Sharks in England's T20 competition this winter, brings an invaluable wealth of experience and all-round competitiveness to the Knights' Twenty20 side.
Styris, 38, is delighted to be returning and is already fired up to attempt to win the HRV Cup with the Knights for the first time.
"I've loved playing for the Northern Knights ever since debuting for them in 1994 and I can't wait to have another crack at the HRV Cup this summer," he said.
"It's been the elusive title for us yet there's no question that we have played some outstanding T20 cricket. The challenge to nail it this summer is one we are all very fired up for. I'm also looking forward to playing under our new captain Daniel Flynn who will do a fantastic job."
Pamment noted that the role of senior players takes on extra significance when there is an abundance of exciting youth in a squad.
"James Baker is one who will continue to shape his craft with more exposure. Graeme Aldridge, who is in the top echelon now with over 100 first-class games to his credit and who broke our Northern Districts all-time wickets record last season, has really taken the younger seam bowlers under his wing.
"I'm sure both James and Tony Goodin will benefit from his mentorship. It's also a pleasure for us to be able to reward guys who have been in our system and who have worked very hard in the training environment and at Northern Districts A level."
Bay of Plenty allrounder Brett Hampton has missed out on a contract and the other Knights not to have been recontracted are the long-serving Joseph Yovich, James Marshall (retired), Bradley Scott (Otago Volts) and Brent Arnel ( Wellington Firebirds).
Northern Knights - 2013/14 Contracted Players