Ten days out from the start of the NZC Domestic cricket season, the Central Stags are in the unusual position of not having a permanent Head Coach appointed for the first two competitions on the menu. Other teams have familiar names coming in to bring a fresh wave of energy in their new roles.
Let's check out all the coaching comings and goings (so far) around New Zealand, ahead of a special season - one that will mark 100 summers of the men's first-class Domestic competition, the Plunket Shield.
The 2025/26 gets underway with the first five, "pre-Christmas" rounds of our 10-round national men's one-day competition, The Ford Trophy, beginning on Labour Weekend Saturday, 25 October 2025.
Round One sees all teams playing their neighbourhood rivals. The Stags host the Wellington Firebirds in New Plymouth; Canterbury host the Otago Volts in Christchurch; and the Auckland Aces host Northern Districts at Eden Park's Kennards Hire Community Oval.
The Stags will have an interim Head Coach appointed for The Ford Trophy and Plunket Shield after the incumbent in these roles, Glenn Pocknall, decided to call time last month. His last day with the team was last Friday, after a series of preseason friendlies against Northern Districts in Napier.
The Stags' T20 coach Ben F. Smith with captain Tom Bruce after last season's title | PHOTOSPORT
The Stags are the reigning men's T20 Super Smash champions, and that campaign will see the return of their UK-based specialist T20 Head Coach, Ben Smith.
Smith previously filled in as the one-day coach for the team when former coach Heinrich Malan was unavailable, while Pocknall's former Assistant Coach Aldin Smith (no relation) has also previously stepped in as an interim Head Coach.
So stay tuned for further announcements from CD, meanwhile in Otago, the Volts are also heading into a new season with a new coach at the helm. If there's a sense of déja vu, it's because they were in exactly the same position this time last year.
Former Australia rep, the highly regarded Ash Noffke, came on board and, as a former pace bowler, was particularly influential among the Volts' pace bowling group. But after one season, he resigned in June, after being granted leave to join Pakistan men's coaching team as a bowling specialist.
Replacing Noffke is Josh Tasman-Jones, a former Otago batting allrounder who, until now, played a lead role off-stage in supplying all the Domestic team uniforms, in his previous job with outfitter Dynasty.
Josh Tasman-Jones playing for the Volts in 2019 | PHOTOSPORT
Tasman-Jones has kept his hand in cricket, popping up as an occasional player as recently as the 2022 Super Smash, and as an Otago selector and Otago A coach since.
The 35-year-old now gets a two-year contract and his Assistant Coach, also fresh on board, is none other than former Auckland Ace and BLACKCAP, Andre Adams. The two have crossed paths before; Tasman-Jones started out in the Auckland development system before his work-related move to Otago.
Former BLACKCAPS coach Gary Stead also stays on board in an advisory capacity to assist the new coaching team, having been brought in as an interim coach for the winter programme, before the pair's August appointment.
Andre Adams in Test mode, 2002 | PHOTOSPORT
In the capital, the women's Super Smash champion Wellington Blaze will start their season - in the one-day Hallyburton Johnstone Shield on Saturday, 15 November - officially under a new Head Coach as well.
But former Auckland rep Jonny Bassett-Graham is no stranger to the team. He came in as an interim Head Coach for last summer's thrilling Super Smash defence, after longtime Head Coach Lance Dry transitioned to a new men's performance coach role at Cricket Wellington late last year.
Bassett-Graham was previously head of Auckland Cricket's pathway and talent, and he coached the New Zealand Under 19 men's team at the 2023 ICC U19 World Cup. He has also assisted the Auckland Aces and Central Stags at various times.
He'll have a new Assistant Coach as well, in former Wellington men's rep Joe Austin-Smellie who will work in a support role across both the Blaze and Firebirds flagship teams.
With the women's 10-round one-day season beginning a month after the men's, Wellington Blaze will get underway with a trip north to Whangārei's Cobham Oval to play Northern Districts on the opening twin-round weekend, on 15 and 16 November.
The Central Hinds will meanwhile host the Canterbury Magicians at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth while defending champion the Otago Sparks kick off with two big Grand Final rematches against the Auckland Hearts in Dunedin, the scene of last summer's remarkable title.
That the Sparks did so without their own longstanding Head Coach Craig Cumming - who departed, after the Super Smash, for a new role in England, shows that teams can overcome coaching curve balls.
Former coach Craig Cumming built a successful era for the Sparks | PHOTOSPORT
Former Auckland Aces and Volts rep, now Otago performance and pathway manager Shawn Hicks stepped in as interim coach last summer, and now the Sparks begin a new era under Welsman Gareth Davies.
Perhaps the least familiar face on these shores, Davies was appointed in June on a two-year deal. He brings extensive coaching experience in the women's game, having previously coached Loughborough University, Worcestershire Women, The Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix (as Assistant Coach) and the UK's Central Sparks.
With a strong batting and fielding acumen, Davies also joined the WHITE FERNS in a temporary asssistant role when they toured the UK last year.
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Davies started in his latest role in July and picks up a team that has won the national one-day title three times in the last five years as well as twice making the Super Smash Grand Final.
A whole new season awaits and with it, plenty of cricket to enjoy this summer - with admission to all Ford Trophy, Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and Plunket Shield matches free, every game.
