What went wrong? Well, just about everything for the defending State Shield champion.
Northern Districts thumped Otago by nine wickets in a one-day match in Alexandra on Saturday, leaving the Volts with plenty to think about ahead of their next match against contest front-runner Central Districts at the same venue tomorrow.
The gameplan started to unravel right from the toss, with the visitor inserting Otago on a frisky Molyneux Park pitch.
Promising left-arm quick bowler Trent Boult struck twice, removing Aaron Redmond for zero and Greg Todd for one.
Boult bowled superbly, taking two for 10 from an eight-over spell, and Joseph Yovich ran through Otago's middle order, taking three for 30 from 10 overs.
Yovich also picked up dangerous England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas in his Otago debut for just one.
Otago opener Shaun Haig posted his highest score, whacking 79 runs.
But Otago was bowled out for a paltry 167, leaving Northern a simple run chase.
"We were outplayed from go to whoa.
"Pretty much most things went wrong," Otago coach Mike Hesson lamented.
The pitch got easier to bat on as the day went on, but Hesson blamed a poor batting performance for his side's loss.
"We didn't adjust to the conditions well enough and, when we had the opportunity to bowl, we also weren't able to apply any pressure.
"All in all, it was a pretty rusty performance."
Hamish Marshall was the only victim as his side cantered to victory.
He was trapped lbw by Neil Wagner for a duck.
Fellow opener BJ Watling and Michael Parlane guided Northern to 171 for one in the 36th over.
Watling had some nervous moments early on but blossomed to reach 83 off 119 balls.
Parlane was more circumspect in reaching 65 off 90 balls.
While Mascarenhas missed out with the bat he did bowl quite nicely, conceding just 14 runs from his six overs, and Nathan McCullum's off-spin was hard to get away.
He bowled seven overs for 25 runs.
Despite the heavy defeat, Hesson will not be hitting the panic button.
"We're pleased we've got that one out of the way and it is a matter of not over-reacting and making sure we put in a better performance."
Otago plays competition leader Central Districts at the same venue tomorrow.
Middle-order batsman Neil Broom has been named in the New Zealand side for the first two one-dayers against the West Indies beginning in Queenstown on Wednesday, but he will play for Otago tomorrow.
