Thompson's time at Northland Cricket all too brief

Northland Cricket's reunion with former prodigy Ewen Thompson has proved to be a brief one, the former fast bowler deciding to leave his position as high-performance coach for personal reasons.
Thompson, who retired from first-class cricket at the end of the 2009-10 season, worked hard to set up the Milo Cricket programme in Northland this season.
"I had a one-year contract with Northland Cricket and now that's up I'm moving to Wellington for personal reasons. My partner Tara is down there and it's just not possible for me to look at doing another role within Northland cricket from that distance," he said.
He was also the player-coach of the Northland senior X1 and he said the constant strain on his body had been another reason for stepping aside.
"There's a reason why I retired [from first-class cricket] at 30. It's a pretty young age to retire. I pushed my body very, very hard during my career and while I'd rather still be playing, I'm a competitive person. My body just won't allow it.
"Every time I played this year it took me a fortnight to recover so it was with good intent I came back to try to lead the [Northland] side. My body just wasn't up to it and while I'll quite happily tick over and play a bit of club cricket, probably a bit further off in the future, the days of steaming in are gone," he said.
Northland Cricket chief executive officer Gary Bell and Thompson sat down to try to work something through , without any luck, and Bell said the association would be sad to see him go.
"He's brought plenty to the table. Obviously his first-class experience was invaluable to the senior X1, and another thing is that he's attracted back some senior players like Barry Cooper, who has come back as a senior team selector and Denis Lloyd as a mentor to some of the guys, and of course, he's created some numbers at the Milo centres. So he's had a positive influence," Bell said.
The 31-year-old's commitment to Northland cricket, particularly in the Kaipara Flats-Warkworth area, where he was born, will remain high.
"In hindsight I probably took on a wee bit too much. But that's life. I feel that it was worth it.
"Leaving Northland Cricket, I'd like to see hundreds of extra kids playing the game. The bigger that we can build the base the better our junior competitions will become, the stronger our seniors teams will be and the better our representative sides will be at all levels," he said.
"But Gary and his team are very aware of that ... so I think Northland Cricket will continue to grow stronger."
He built a successful career at Central Districts and played two matches for the Black Caps in 2009.
"I've got a property company I've been running for a couple of years now and I've been trying to focus on that as well as on my role at Northland Cricket and, of course, that's meant the company has taken a back seat , so that will be my immediate focus for the next few months and then I'll be looking elsewhere for a role cricket-wise because I still love cricket and want to put some of my skill back into it."