Perhaps it was passion. Maybe it was stubbornness. Either way, Alec Knight was certainly patient.
Former national selector Frank Cameron is hesitant to "leap on the bandwagon" and criticise the current crop of New Zealand players.
Otago captain Craig Cumming played a match-winning innings and kept his head when many around him were losing theirs.
A mighty effort went without reward yesterday.
Long before Michael Bracewell chose cricket, the sport chose him.
You cannot make improvements to your game sitting inside a motel room, watching the rain run down the window pane.
The Otago Nuggets have taken a major step towards being competitive with the announcement Tall Black forward Craig Bradshaw will suit up for the franchise next year.
If pushed for an answer, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alison Shanks would give herself "about an eight out of 10" this year.
How does that Crowded House song go again? "Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you."
The good news is Otago did not lose this weekend. The bad news is Otago did not win either, and has just three games left to post its first win in the HRV Cup.
The Otago Daily Times' search for Otago's Best XI is over. Cricket writer Adrian Seconi presents a formidable team boasting a world-class opening combination and a dazzling spin attack.
The Highlanders got their Super 15 campaign under way yesterday and there was not a ball in sight.
Otago has its swagger back, and not before time. The Volts have made a dreadful start to the domestic twenty/20 competition, losing their opening four matches.
Twenty/20 is not always decided by big hits. Sometimes it comes down to a few measly centimetres.
Forward defence - what's that? Kieran Noema-Barnett blasted his way into the record books with an extraordinary innings.
If you balanced a ball on a stick, half the Otago team would not have been able to hit it off during the past month.
History be damned.
University-Grange left-hand batsman Michael Bracewell made a strong argument for a place in the Otago one-day side with a scintillating century during a trial match at the University Oval yesterday.
If losing is a habit then it appears to be catching on.
Trial games are usually thinly disguised practice matches with few real opportunities actually existing.