The hard-hitting Millie Cowan has returned after a year away from the game and is keen to recapture the sort of form which saw her blaze her maiden 100.
The 25-year-old scored a quarter of her career runs in one remarkable innings. A hockey player, she put her bottom hand to good use and bludgeoned 105 from 85 balls in a one-day match against Northern Districts at the University Oval in January, 2017.
But Cowan took last summer off to finish her studies and go overseas. She was not able to build on her progress.
''I get a lot of flak for that, to be honest,'' she said.
But now she is back she is keen to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
Cowan is a maths and physical education teacher at Gore High School, so it is not always easy to find someone with whom to train. The Sparks practise on a Tuesday and she does her best to get up to Dunedin as often as she can.
But it is a challenge and the twenty20 warm-up games against Canterbury earlier this month were a reality check.
''It can be difficult to get to Dunedin depending on what I've got on at school and other things. I'm trying to make it work.
''I was at the warm-up games and they didn't go too well at first. But that is to be expected. I haven't played a heap of cricket and it was the first hit-out for a lot of us.
''But it was a starting point for all of us. We know what we need to work on now and things to tidy up.''
Defence has never been a hallmark of her cricket. But what she lacks in technique, she makes up for with her eye and ability to strike the ball crisply.
Her presence at the top of the T20 line-up will be critical. With Suzie Bates missing for most of the season, Cowan shapes as a key batsman alongside White Ferns duo Katey Martin and Leigh Kasperek.
Polly Inglis and Caitlin Blakely have largely been role players but have accumulated plenty of experience now and will be expected to contribute more.
The Sparks will miss English pace bowler Beth Langston, who has opted against returning for a third stint.
Georgia Clarke and Kate Heffernan will look to pick up some of the slack, and it will be interesting to see what Georgia is capable off.
She was held back by an injury last season but was a schoolgirl star alongside her twin, Kate. They are both very good netballers and may eventually be lost to that code.
Star batsman Bates missed plenty of cricket last season as well. Martin and Kasperek basically carried the side in her absence.
For the Sparks to improve on their fourth in the one-day competition and last in the T20 tournament, the pair will need a lot more help. The arrival of imports Alice Davidson-Richards and Lisa Griffith will lift some of the pressure.
The season gets under way tomorrow with a T20 match against Auckland in Lincoln. It is the first of five games the side will play in four days.
Cowan has been given the green light to play her natural game.
''From the discussions I've had with Nathan [King, Sparks coach] that is going to be my role. That is what he wants me to focus on. It is just about hitting enough balls between now and then to get my eye in.
''It is going to be a big four days up in Lincoln.''
