With a tug of the heartstrings Neil Wagner has been pulled away from Otago cricket.
The South African-born left-armer came to call Mosgiel home and still talks about the mobility scooter capital of the world in glowing terms.
He has absolutely loved playing for the Volts during the past 10 years and the decision to sign with Northern Districts was angst-ridden.
But his wife, Lana, had sacrificed so much so Wagner could pursue his cricketing goals and it was time he worked in around her plans.
The couple recently brought a home near Tauranga, so to continue playing for Otago would have meant even more time away from home.
"I didn't want to be sitting around in Dunedin and my wife sitting around at the Mount. We already spend a lot of time apart from each other," Wagner said.
"It is a pretty amazing spot in the country as well and we have a lot of friends up there which made it pretty easy.
"Lana has offered up a lot for me to have my dream and follow my career, so, in some sense, it was time for a bit of payback.
"It makes it easy for her to be around friends and people she is close to when I'm away. And I can feel more relaxed knowing she is all good when I'm away."
Wagner said Otago had been very supportive of his decision and Northern Districts had welcomed him "with open arms".
Wagner arrived in Dunedin as a sprightly 23-year-old with a burning desire to play international cricket. He leaves the city as a sprightly 32-year-old and a proven international cricketer.
He was grateful for the opportunity he got with the Volts and paid the association back with 447 wickets in 186 games across three formats.
Five of those wickets came in one remarkable over in Queenstown seven years ago.
"The five wickets in one over was pretty special. I didn't realise how special it was until Warren McSkimming kept going on about it.
"It was an awesome moment and an awesome time in my career."
A year later Wagner was called into the test team and was quick to prove himself at the highest level.
Wagner's departure will leave a huge gap in the Otago team. Last week veteran wicketkeeper Derek de Boorder pulled out of the contracting process and is moving on with life after cricket.
He may not play for Otago again and the Otago Daily Times understands another senior player is considering retiring from first-class cricket.
But Wagner is confident Otago will bounce back despite the setbacks.
"That is tough but every team goes through phases. We went through the same thing a couple of years back when we lost Craig Cumming, Aaron Redmond, James McMillan and Nathan McCullum.
"It was tough but in hindsight it created opportunities".
Otago has also been a bit of a breeding programme for players coming from somewhere else who end up using the opportunity and playing for the Black Caps.
"Those opportunities are there now for people. It will be exciting to see what happens there and what they are going to do. There is still a lot of quality youngsters around.
"Obviously the results have not shown as much as they should have in the past two years but that is a bit of a pity because there is definitely a lot of a talent there.
"It will turn around soon, so there is still an exciting future."
