The Otago Sparks side which blazed its way into the elimination final of the Super Smash bore only a slight resemblance to the team which dudded out spectacularly in the one-day competition.
The Sparks won five games in a row to secure a spot in the twenty20 playoffs and would have been bitterly disappointed not to reach the final.
White Ferns trio Suzie Bates, Katey Martin and Hayley Jensen scored the bulk of the runs and Jensen made a solid contribution with the ball. Australian imports Hannah Darlington and Amanda-Jade Wellington made a real impact when they joined the campaign and were instrumental in helping the Sparks turn around what was a slow start to the campaign.
The fab five’s presence helped bring out the best in the likes of Emma Black, Eden Carson and Millie Cowan.
Black and Carson grabbed 21 wickets between them and Cowan finished the tournament strongly with a couple of half-centuries at the top of the innings.
Otago lost early wickets during the elimination final against Auckland and was able to eke out only 120 for seven. Jensen held the innings together with an unbroken knock of 41 from 44 balls.
But a 94-run stand for the opening wicket put pay to any hope of defending the modest target. Even with a few late stumbles Auckland was still able to cruise to a five-wicket win with more than three overs remaining.
Bates and Martin have held the Sparks together for season after season but they are in the twilight of their careers and not always available these days.
Bates did not feature during the one-day tournament and Martin made just two appearances. Their absence was seismic.
Without the duo, and no imports, Otago was just not that competitive. The Sparks lost all nine completed games and some by a very large margin.
Jensen, who transferred south from Canterbury this season, had a tremendous campaign. She scored 233 runs at an average of 58.25 and took eight wickets at 15.75. But she played a lone hand all too often.
"It is really hard when you don’t have an experienced and quality player out there leading the team on the field and providing that direction," coach Nathan King said.
"When you take out our White Ferns, we are left more exposed compared with other teams.
"There is no recipe for developing a player like Suzie Bates or Katey Martin. They don’t come around that often.
"You just have to develop the players you have to the best of your ability."
There were some bright spots. Black took 10 wickets at an average of 26.70. She gets plenty of inswing but will be a lot more deadly if she can develop the ball which nips away or goes straight on.
Leg-spinner Sophie Oldershaw grabbed her maiden five-wicket bag and can be a handful in the right conditions.
But there is no senior women’s club competition in place in Dunedin which means the Sparks still draw heavily from successful school programmes such as the one at St Hilda’s Collegiate.
Until the grassroots of the game are made more robust, it is likely the Sparks will continue to struggle.
