The Sparks had a reasonable season by their standards.
They finished last in the one-day competition but up until the last round they still had a slim hope of making the final.
They laboured in the twenty/20 tournament but a surprise win over Canterbury in their last match lifted them to fourth spot, despite winning just one of their five games.
The usual suspects shone.
Katey Martin made a brilliant start to the summer with a string of half centuries in both forms of the game.
Leg spinner Emma Campbell was rewarded for another solid season with promotion to the White Ferns.
She took 15 wickets at 17.93 and also made some progress with the bat, posting an undefeated half century during the twenty/20 competition - her highest score.
Aucklander Amanda Green made a satisfactory return to elite cricket with nine one-day wickets, but she struggled in the twenty/20 fixtures.
Evergreen all-rounder Clare Taylor continues to play at a good level.
The 44-year-old former player-coach took 12 wickets at 19.41 and chipped in 120 runs.
Dual cricket and basketball international Suzie Bates was unavailable for much of the season because of basketball commitments in Australia.
Bates is a proven match-winner and her absence was sorely felt.
The Sparks are not a side with great depth and can ill-afford to be without players of Bates' calibre.
"The most important thing for the Sparks is to get more cricket played in the Otago region," King said.
"At this stage we've actually only got three players based in Dunedin.
"Tesse Hopkinson is moving to Christchurch, so that means we've got five girls based in Christchurch now.
Amanda Green is in Auckland and we've got another girl moving to Nelson and four girls in Invercargill.
"We can't do a hell of a lot together as a team throughout the season, which is always going to be a challenge. Until we get more people regularly playing the game in the Otago region, that we have access to and can spend time with them coaching, then, I guess, it is always going to be a struggle."
Still, King felt his side had made some good progress.
"The reality is we didn't finish as high in the competitions as we'd like. But compared to some of the previous seasons, we managed to compete in more games than what we previously have."
The Sparks bounced back well after a defeat to Auckland in the opening round and beat the northerners in the return match the following day.
It was a result which gave the side some belief.
A good win against Wellington put the Sparks in a healthy position but back-to-back losses to Central Districts damaged their prospects.
The Sparks might have scraped into the final if they had beaten Canterbury in their last two matches, but were outplayed in both games.
