Otago, as expected, had a difficult weekend at the annual Jefferies Cup provincial men's tournament in Christchurch at the weekend.
A record of one win and four losses - 12 runs scored and 41 conceded - illustrated the gap between a very young Otago side and the top teams in the South Island.
Bailey finds no pleasure in defeat but is looking forward to seeing a talented crop of players develop in the coming seasons.
''Overall, this has been a really good experience for our young guys,'' Bailey told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
''We possibly should have had two wins. And I don't actually think we are that far off the pace.
''Next year, we should be a better team.''
Otago opened the competition with two slow starts and two scoreless defeats, at the hands of Marlborough (7-0) and Canterbury (10-0).
They were followed by a frustrating game against Southland, in which Otago had plenty of chances but could not convert them, and slipped to a 6-3 loss to its traditional rival.
''I think, on Saturday, we were maybe intimidated by some of the players we came up against,'' Bailey said.
''Marlborough actually showed us some respect by playing Kurt Schollum, their Black Sox pitcher. We also rushed things a bit and made quite a few errors.''
Otago made a terrible start against Canterbury, conceding seven runs in the first inning. But pitcher Jacob Wedlock then did well to hold Canterbury to three scoreless innings.
Captain Cam Watts hit a home run against Southland but Otago could not string together enough offence. Watts was later named in the tournament team.
The highlight of the weekend came in the final round robin game yesterday, when Otago again started slowly but then got the scoreboard ticking and beat Nelson 9-8 to qualify for the playoffs.
However, there was no fairytale end to the weekend as Canterbury beat Otago 10-0 inside four innings in the semifinal.
