Final day: Worcestershire beat Somerset by eight wickets
There will be those who are privately quite pleased to see the back of Tom Moody.
There are those who did not always appreciate his forthright style of man management. And there are those who believe he should have cleared his desk from the moment he accepted his new post with Sri Lanka.
But, setting aside the distraction of his long-drawn-out exit from New Road, there are also those who forget the fine coaching job he has done over the past 41/2 years. And there was good cause for one final winning smile from Worcestershire's director of cricket as he took his leave of county cricket in the glorious Bath sunshine.
Moody's men took less than a session to knock over the last Somerset wicket they needed on Saturday morning before powering the 138 runs required for victory.
The increasingly impressive Stephen Moore scored an unusually rapid 66 not out, even hitting a couple of sixes as he passed the 600-run mark in the Championship this season in only Worcestershire's seventh game.
That overtook the prolific Graeme Hick as the county's top scorer this season in the process. He was well supported by the reliable Ben Smith, who followed his brilliant first inning century by scurrying his way to 39 off just 41 balls.
Together, Smith and Moore plundered an unbroken 90 off just 15 overs to have it all done and dusted ten minutes before lunch. And it was achieved pretty much without any cause for alarm.
It took just 15 balls for Chaminda Vaas to send Andy Caddick's off stump cartwheeling out of the ground. And the visitors then lost just two wickets in getting the runs.
Teenager Stephen Davies took another nervous step in his learning process as he repeated his first innings dismissal, edging Caddick to Somerset captain Graeme Smith at first slip. And Caddick took the only other wicket to fall when Hick, who had looked in the mood to oversee a third successful Saturday morning run chase of the season, edged to Michael Burns in the gully on 17.
But it was entirely appropriate that two of Moody's best signings, Smith and Moore, were the ones who saw their side home in his final county championship game in charge. And, although he admitted that he was there ostensibly to watch Caddick, that was something which did not go without notice by the watching David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors.
It might be too late for Smith, at 33, although it really shouldn't be, given his stunning form of late, having plundered 402 from his last four Championship innings.
Having had the weight lifted from his shoulders by resigning the captaincy last August, it has taken some time for his form to blossom - almost from the moment Moody's departure was announced three weeks ago. But it is no surprise that Worcestershire are close to agreeing a new contract with him beyond the end of next summer which would effectively mean Smith seeing out his career at New Road.
"It's great to have Ben back in form," said Moody. "And I'm really pleased for him.
"He's always been quick out of the blocks in his time here, so this season has been a bit of a slow start by his standards. But he has shown great character, and the three hundreds he has hit for us in a row have all been when his team needed him to produce something.
Having said that, South African-born Moore, who reached 1,000 first-class runs last summer in his debut season, is perhaps the best long term bet for England selection by the land of his father.
"Sometimes the second year can be a testing one," said Moody. "But Stephen has stood up and lifted his game again from last year."
* Graeme Hick will take over as captain in the absence of Vikram Solanki and Gareth Batty because of England commitments.
Skipper Solanki and vice-captain Batty - called up because of Ashley Giles' hip problem - are part of England's squad for the forthcoming NatWest Series with Australia and Bangladesh.
