The Otago Cricket Association emerged from its winter cocoon barely recognisable, Adrian Seconi writes.
There is a new edge to the organisation which had previously been more benign and comfortable.
The old narrative has given way to a new business vernacular which has a lot to live up to and has ushered in more change than during the previous decade.
The transformation started when it was forced to ditch its ambitious plan to install lights at the University Oval and focus on the embankments project instead.
To push the embankments project through it had to commit almost $150,000 of it cash reserves and that decision had serious budget ramifications.
The Otago Cricket Association (OCA) has exhausted most of its working capital and now faces a lean few years as it looks to rebuild its cash stocks.
But the belt-tightening started long before the first bulldozers rumbled across the University Oval.
The OCA was forced to restructure its operation as it looked for ways to cut expenses.
Inevitably there was some blood spilt, as two long-serving staff members moved on.
A few weeks earlier, Otago coach Nathan King resigned one year into a two-year contract following the outcome of a season review.
In essence, the players had lost faith in King’s leadership.
His departure provided Otago with an opportunity to go in a new direction.
In what proved to be a bit of a coup, the OCA convinced New Zealand Cricket to fund its head coach.
So former South Africa conditioning coach Rob Walter, who got the job, is centrally contracted.
His assistant is former Netherlands coach Anton Roux and physiotherapist Brett Harrop was added to what is heavyweight management team.
Former University Oval groundsman Tom Tamati won’t be sighted this summer either.
When Dunedin Venues Management Limited (DVML) took over the contract from Delta, Tamati was uncertain where that left him and accepted another position.
New groundsman Mike Davies has promised to deliver livelier pitches which will please the bowlers.
In another big shift, DVML has got into the business of cricket and will manage the internationals staged at the University Oval for the next two seasons.
That has partly shut down a source of revenue for Otago Cricket.
But while there have been a lot of changes, the Volts line-up has remained largely unscathed.
Nathan McCullum had hoped to play twenty20 for the province but won’t be back.
Otherwise, it is the same crew.
The players now face the challenge of breaking Otago’s painful drought in first-class cricket.
It has been 28 years since the province won the title and based on Otago’s effort last season — the Volts won one game, drew four and lost five — there is a lot of work ahead.
Not too many of the players emerged from that campaign having enhanced their reputations, which makes this year an interesting case study.
Will the arrival of a new management team spark the improvements the team needs to make in order to be more competitive?
The coaching staff will need more than a season in charge to have a meaningful impact.
Walter was appointed after the contracting process was complete, so next year’s team will bear more resemblance to the sort of team he is trying to build.
But his arrival already has the players on edge.
No-one is able to lean on their reputation.
They have to fight for their spot and the group just looks hungrier.
The same thing happens in football.
When the manager is sacked, the players are transformed overnight and usually rebound from a losing streak to post a few wins.
The new manager gets the credit but longer-lasting results are much harder to achieve.
We will have to wait for a clearer picture to emerge before we can judge what difference all the changes have made.
