One win from 10 games was certainly not the return the Otago Volts were looking for from their Super Smash campaign.Coach Dion Ebrahim admits as much.
It was a disappointing season that left the Volts at the bottom of the table for the second consecutive season.
Yet it was one Ebrahim also felt came in challenging circumstances.
"Obviously, it was disappointing from a results point of view, in terms of trying to win the competition," he said.
"But I think, keeping the perspective, we were greatly impacted by injuries throughout the competition. That didn’t allow us to field a consistent XI.
"It’s a format that can be quite fickle — you need to have some consistency in selection, and that was never there.
"We were fortunate enough to give experience to some younger players, who were able to fill spots of the senior players who were injured. So the results were disappointing, but there are some silver linings."
The Volts showed flashes of brilliance throughout their campaign.
At times, they bowled sublimely — such as when Anaru Kitchen and Jacob Duffy combined to take five wickets in nine balls, reducing Auckland to 13 for five.
There were also moments of quality with the bat. However, the consistency was missing.
Ebrahim felt the team’s injuries might have played a part in that, as some of the remaining established players put pressure on themselves to perform.
"I think some of our senior players were affected by feeling the need to carry the team, potentially feeling burdened because we couldn’t select a consistent XI.
"It’s a natural psyche that can occur."
Ebrahim felt Matt Bacon and Kitchen had been the Volts’ top performers with the ball, providing "glue" to the bowling attack.
He also had praise for youngsters Max Chu and Llew Johnson.
Ensuring the team kept the "right young players" together would be key to its growth.
Otago’s focus now would turn back to the one-day competition, in which the Volts are in third place.
That has been the team’s best format in recent seasons.
"It’s definitely a format that suits our balance.
"We’re obviously missing that genuine seam bowling all-rounder. The Ford Trophy is a format we can use our natural make-up to be successful.
"The transition from the shorter format, you take elements of that power game in terms of batting at the back end of an innings.
"From a bowling point of view, it’s being clinical at the death, which we have been for the majority of the T20 campaign.
"But the biggest transition is becoming a bit more traditional, or a bit more conservative, in our approaches."
