Auckland claimed back-to-back wins against the defending Hallyburton Johnstone Shield champions at the University Oval at the weekend.
Both victories fell firmly into the very comfortable category.
There were some troubling signs for the home team, who dominated the competition last summer.
They batted first both days and really laboured against a quality Auckland attack.
They were only able to post scores of 185 and 172.
It was a low bar that would have been difficult for Auckland to limbo under.
The Hearts (155 for three) cruised to a seven-wicket win (DWL method) on Saturday and were not troubled at all yesterday, reaching the target with nine wickets in hand and the best part of 15 overs remaining.
Coach Gareth Davies said the problem was easy to diagnose.
"We didn’t get enough runs on the board on both days," Davies conceded.
"We understand that having two successful years, people are going to be at their best coming to play us and, ultimately, we just didn’t have enough partnerships throughout the whole weekend and that’s come back to cost us a little bit.
"So, yeah, a big focus will be on working on partnerships for the next two weeks to put it right for the next game."
Veteran White Ferns and Otago opener Suzie Bates lasted just two balls and was ruled out of yesterday’s match with a leg complaint.
She had a miserable run at the World Cup and spooned a catch to mid-wicket for a duck.
It was a leg-side delivery that you would expect a player of her calibre to whip away for a boundary. Instead, she produced a tentative prod.
She was not the only batter who would not want to watch their dismissal.
Polly Inglis and Felicity Robertson hit the most gentle of return catches to Auckland left-arm spinner Fran Jonas in the opening game.
Saffron Wilson was the only Otago batter to enhance her reputation. She played a lone hand on Saturday, batting responsibly to post 79.
She dragged the Sparks through to 185, which was a good result considering they had slumped to 79 for seven.
Brooke Halliday struck an undefeated 52 as Auckland cantered to a win.
Jonas (three for 27) starred, but Amie Hucker (two for 31) and Molly Penfold (two for 16) were impressive as well.
Maddy Green missed out with the bat but nabbed two wickets in her 100th list A game for Auckland.
Josie Penfold claimed three for 28 to help roll Otago cheaply in game two yesterday. Jonas nabbed another couple of scalps.
The Sparks had several players make starts.
Inglis got through to 35 before a lack of footwork saw her yorked and bowled by Jonas.
Anna Browning (26) and PJ Watkins (24) provided some late resistance.
Prue Catton (87 not out) and Green (74 not out) put on an unbroken second-wicket stand of 162 from 185 balls to power the visitors to victory.
In the other games at the weekend, Central Districts posted two wins against Canterbury at Pukekura Park, while Wellington and Northern Districts shared the honours in Whangarei.
