Otago finished last in the twenty20 tournament and ought to have done better than third in the one-day competition. Cricket writer Adrian Seconi reviews a limited-overs season in which the Volts underachieved.
In some respects, had Otago sneaked into the final of the one-day competition it would been a travesty.
Its form during the round-robin phase was patchy, with three wins and three losses.
Two of the wins came against Northern Districts during the first three rounds of the tournament.
Having made a good start, the Volts were well-placed but the return of test quartet Neil Wagner, Mark Craig, Hamish Rutherford and Jimmy Neesham did not bring the expected dominance.
Only Wagner was able to make an impact. His haul of 15 wickets at an average of 15.80 was an outstanding effort.
Rutherford scored just 97 runs at an average of 16.16 and his spot at the top of the Otago order will come under pressure if he continues to miss out.
Craig helped the Volts get into the preliminary final with some clutch batting in the three-wicket win in the minor semifinal against Northern Districts in Queenstown.
But he really laboured at the bowling crease, with just two wickets at an unflattering average of 110.50.
Neesham was hindered by a back injury. He bowled only eight overs and, in three bats, scored 81 runs at 27.
Jesse Ryder was also sidelined with a back injury but returned for the important end of the competition.
His run-a-ball half century in the minor semifinal was a reminder of his enduring class.
The Otago line-up which fronted for the preliminary final against a rejigged Central Districts unit boasted six past or present Black Caps.
Reputation counted for very little, as Central won by 49 runs, having posted a middling total of 252.
Coach Dimitri Mascarenhas was scathing of his side's effort. His team had not bowled or batted well enough.
A couple of notable statistics stick out here.
There were 16 centuries scored in the one-day tournament but Otago notched just one of them - Nathan McCullum's 119 in the 16-run win over Wellington in Queenstown.
In the twenty20 campaign, Otago registered just two half-centuries, while its strike force of Jacob Duffy, James McMillan and Dirk Nannes haemorrhaged runs.
The other interesting tidbit is Otago used 18 players during the one-day campaign and 23 players across the two limited-overs campaigns.
With the Black Caps and New Zealand A both touring the UAE during the T20 tournament, every association was forced to dig deep but Otago had to delve a little deeper into its reserves than most.
It provided opportunities for Roald Badenhorst, Josh Finnie and Brad Rodden, and even Shaun Fitzgibbon was called in for the match against Wellington, which was eventually abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Some very inexperienced Otago teams fronted and that put a lot of extra pressure on the key performers.
Star batsman Ryan ten Doeschate, who captained the T20 side, was often left with too much to do, thanks to the top order of Aaron Redmond, Ryder and Michael Bracewell missing out more often than not.
Fellow import Nannes proved to be one of the most expensive bowlers.
The 38-year-old was flogged for 29 off one over in the record 106-run loss to Auckland. His pace was well down on previous years and his value to the side was, at best, marginal.
Mascarenhas persisted with the veteran and, in a game which is all about restricting runs, it was a puzzling decision.
Perhaps Otago would have been better served with ten Doeschate batting higher in the order.
He has been enormously successful in his role as the finisher but Otago started the T20 tournament with five consecutive losses and needed to do something different.
The Volts never recovered, finishing with two wins from nine completed games and comfortably in last place.
That is some plummet for a side which made the final the previous season and won 15 consecutive games in 2012-13.
