Taieri was one hiccup away from a perfect season last summer.
They won all five T20 round-robin games, all their one-day games and won four out of the five declaration fixtures.
The fifth was a draw against North East Valley.
The Swans also inflicted Taieri’s only loss. That was in the final of the T20 competition, which hurt.
Just ask Toby Hart.
He nicked off Hunter Kindley for a duck.
But the right-armer almost had an enormous impact with the bat. He flayed 24 runs from 12 balls at the death to give his side half a chance.
"Yeah, obviously would have been nice to win that one," he said.
"We probably weren’t really in a position to win it in the end. It was kind of just a couple of consolation runs at the end," he said, adding he was not known for his batting prowess but was working on it.
The rest of the season went perfectly for Taieri and Hart. He was a crucial cog in the success.
Hart was the second-highest wicket-taker in the Dunedin premier grade. The 22-year-old nabbed 26 wickets at an average of 11.04.
Only North East Valley right-armer Travis Muller (28 at 8.32) claimed more scalps.
Hart was rewarded for his form with two appearances for the Volts.
He made his list A debut against Wellington at the University Oval last November and claimed the wicket of Troy Johnson — who has since transferred to Otago.
Now the pair train together.
"It took me a while to bring it up with him, but yeah, we had a laugh about it."
Hart got another opportunity at the end of the season, this time in white clothing.
Otago hosted Northern Districts in a Plunket Shield match. Hart took two wickets in the match but also went for more than 100 runs.
"It was obviously a huge step up from the stuff I’ve been playing.
"It was awesome just to be around the environment and to just get in for the first game."
Hart, who hails from Queenstown, is keen to pursue a career in cricket and hopes to build on his efforts from last season.
Taieri have lost some key players. Former New Zealand age-group representative Beckham Wheeler-Greenall is unavailable, and Sam Duff and Ollie Shore are also missing.
Ruben Clinton, who was named club cricketer of the year last season, will captain the side.
He is a force and is another player on the fringe of the Volts’ side. He made his debut for Otago last season as well.
Kyle Hastie had some good days with the ball and Cameron Elliott scored more than 300 runs for the side last summer.
They have also picked up Otago contracted player Zac Cumming from University-Grange.
"We’ve picked up a couple of really good young guys, and a lot of young guys that were in our squad last year have stepped up and hopefully played some key roles for us this year. But obviously, it’s going to be a really tough season.
Taieri open their campaign with a one-dayer against North East Valley at Brooklands Park today.
Valley have a settled squad and the 2023-24 champions will be determined to press for the top again.
They will have to do that without Muller, who has moved on. He led their attack last season.
The Swans will lean on Gus Holt and Kaleb McKay to supply wickets.
Former Auckland left-arm spinner Nikith Perera has popped up in Dunedin and will boost the bowling stocks.
He has played five list A games and two T20s for the Aces. The 23-year-old also made an appearance for a New Zealand XI side against Bangladesh late in 2023.
Hunter Kindley and Sebastian Lauderdale-Smith have been the team’s two most productive batters.
Green Island made the one-day final and played some good T20 cricket.
They had to draft in some veterans at various times and laboured a little in declaration cricket.
But they have had three Otago contracted players — Jacob Cumming, Troy Johnson and Jack Boyle — join the team. Johnson and Boyle will be largely committed to the Volts programme, but they should get some good use out of Jacob Cumming.
The Swamp Rats play University-Grange in their opener at Memorial Park.
But they battled hard last year and registered some good wins.
Albion posted some disappointing results in 2024-25. They failed to fire with the bat.
The Eagles will need to squeeze more out of the likes of Taylor Cumberland, Conor Macleod and wonderkid Hugo Bogue.
They have had a couple of big losses. Jamal Todd has shifted camp to CDK and leading bowler Tommy Clout is in the UK.
They have picked up former Auckland batter Quinn Sunde. He has played 11 first-class games for the Aces and one list A match.
The Eagles play CDK at Tonga Park.
The Hounds posted just three wins last season and it could be a tough season again. On paper, they have gained Volts players Danru Ferns and Todd. But they are unlikely to be spotted playing club cricket often, if at all, this season.
Dunedin premier cricket squads
Taieri
2024-25: Champions
Squad: Ruben Clinton (captain), Cam Elliott, Kevin Loggenberg, Caleb Walker, Regan Flaws, Toby Hart, Ben Lockrose, Kyle Hastie, Matt Parker, Jack Kelly, Thomas Isles, Avenish Shastri, Zac Cumming, Jimmy McKenzie, Chirag Mandaviya, Cam Jackson, Ben McCall.
Gains: Kelly, Isles, Cumming
Losses: Beckham Wheeler-Greenall, Sam Duff, Ollie Shore
Green Island
2024-25: Second
Squad: Hamish Wilson (co-captain), Joel Meade (co-captain), Blair Soper, Brad Kneebone, Dan Lawrence, Elliott Santner, Hamish Wilson, Jack Boyle, Jacob Cummimg, Jake Gibson, Jake Gilbert, Jed Mockford, Joel Meade, Lloyd Fellowes, Lochie Mavor, Mayank Maholtra, Regan Cairns, Troy Johnson, Yuvraj Khara, Ant Harris.
Gains: Fellowes, Mavor, Cumming, Boyle, Johnson
Losses: Navi Doel
North East Valley
2024-25: Third
Squad:Hunter Kindley (captain), Ushitha Caldera, Hassaan Farooqi, Jamie Grassi, Will Hamilton, Gus Holt, Llew Johnson, Hayden Johnston, Sam Johnston, Bodhi Keiller, Sebastian Lauderdale-Smith, Jarrod McKay, Kaleb McKay, Shaedon Miller, Thorn Parkes, Nikith Perera, Andrew Sheridan, Jeremy Smith, Billy Syme, Michael Williams.
Gains: Perera
University-Grange
2024-25: Fourth
Squad:Morgan Duffy, Andrew Moir, Daniel Kibby, Hrishi Bolar, Benedict Hardie, Vinay Chandrappa, Jesse Valpy, Jack Ussher, Sreenvias Venkatarishhnan, Joel Pannell, Ben James, Amos Miller, Dan Howie, Pavish Mev, Joe Devereux-Kilpatrick, Sam Petrie, Fawwaz Farqoori.
Losses: Jacob Cumming, Zac Cumming, Dale Phillips
Albion
2024-25: Fifth
Squad: Taylor Cumberland (captain), Lahiru Vimukthi, Patrick Arnold, Matt Bacon, Hugo Bogue, James Brown, Mason Clarke, Louis Clydesdale, Dylan Fletcher, Lewis Garden, Oliver Garden, Luke Georgeson, Thomas Harris, Conor Macleod, Max Makeham, Luke Marsh, Sithum Niluminda, Josh Olliver, Luke Ritchie, Ollie Ritchie, Jack Soal, Quinn Sunde, Matthew West.
Gains:Sunde, Niluminda
Losses: Jamal Todd, Tommy Clout
CDK
2024-25: Last
Squad: Francis Kirkland, Xavier Chisholm, Nick Brown, Jamal Todd, Tom Jones, Danru Ferns, Max Chu, Will Jones, Mason Gain, Henry Scott, Thomas O’Connor, Jack Wright, Ishaan Silva, Harry Sixton, Ashton Hansen, Alfie Flame, DJ Hawkesby, Cameron Fletcher, Jack Hernon, Morgan Tapper, Liam Ryan, Rhys Milmine, Harry Waite, Aditya Hathi.
Gains: Danru Ferns, Jamal Todd
Losses: Nick Tapper, Jonty Fleck.
* Team lists provided by the clubs.
