But four teams have survived and they will play in various secondary schoolboy grades this season under the University-Grange banner, Otago Cricket Association general manager of community cricket Andrew Petrie said.
The Female Cricket League was launched with some fanfare for the 2022-23 season.
It was thought to be the first all-female league in the city in 40 years.
But Petrie said the core numbers were not there to support a healthy competition, and they had changed tack.
"Having enough players to play every week was the real challenge," he said.
"Effectively we had a different number of teams playing different weeks because of commitments of the players, whether it be the Sparks, the As, under-19s or just general life, I guess.
"So that then meant that the playing ability was quite spread. So what we've got now is they're all playing under the banner of University-Grange Women's Club, effectively connected to the University-Grange club."
"We've got four teams starting this weekend and they'll be in a grade closer to their ability."
Petrie believes the female players will be better supported under the new structure.
"There's now a club or a group of volunteers that are organising these players and there's some really hard work that's gone in there already this season."
Petrie did not see it as a backward step for female cricket in the region but acknowledged the goal would be to build the playing strength up to the point where a female league was more viable.
"I think what it's going to do is it's going to provide like-for-like development for those players and I think that it'll expand over time.
"There'll be more and more players coming because they will see the opportunity to play in teams with a similar level of ability."
"I think with the success of the Women's World Cup that we would like to see that grow over time.
"But we probably need to consider how that will build and whether it goes back to a female league, that would be the optimal outcome."
