The Otago Sparks shelled four catches, all best described as dollies.
They made up for some abysmal fielding with some decent bowling against Wellington at the Basin Reserve yesterday.
PJ Watkins took four for 28 to create history. The left-armer became the first player to take four wickets on debut in the tournament.
But Georgia Plimmer led the recovery with an undefeated 41 to help the Blaze reach 140 for eight.
That was too many for the Sparks, who struggled to build partnerships once the first-wicket stand was broken.
Suzie Bates slammed 25 from 22 at the top of the innings, and Felicity Robertson added 24 from 20 before getting run out in unfortunate circumstances.
The visitors were bowled out for 117 to lose by 23 runs.
Earlier, Wellington opener Rebecca Burns should have been gone for 13.
The right-hander got a leading edge which ballooned to mid-on, but Bella James fumbled a simple chance.
Emma Black got a wicket next ball, though. She trapped the hard-hitting Jess McFadyen lbw for 14.
The Sparks dropped another couple of easy catches before Polly Inglis finally held one for Otago and Melie Kerr had to go for seven.
Burns’ good fortune had run out on 20.
She got a ripper from Watkins. She got her second delivery to nip back in and through the gate to bowl the dangerous Burns.
She also cleaned out Leigh Kasperek for one.
Wellington was teetering at 55 for four and probably should have been five down but Inglis blew a sharp stumping opportunity when Plimmer was on 24.
That proved costly because Plimmer pushed on to get her side through to a decent tally.
White Ferns and Otago all-rounder Hayley Jensen went wicketless in her first match back after a nine-month injury layoff.
Otago opener Bates had a clear plan against Wellington’s spinners.
She danced down the wicket and sent deliveries from Xara Jetly and Kasperek down the ground for a series of boundaries.
But she got herself in a knot against Jess Kerr and was bowled.
That was a big wicket and an even bigger challenge for the rest of the order to step up.
There is no Kate Ebrahim this season, and with Katey Martin retired, the Sparks are short on players with a proven ability to win matches with the bat.
The Sparks struggled to get partnerships going.
But Robertson dispatched consecutive boundaries down the ground in the 13th over to inject some energy into the chase.
Jensen joined Robertson at the wicket with six overs to go.
They represented the Sparks’ last real prospect to wrestle victory away from the Blaze.
Melie Kerr brought herself back on to capture a wicket and did it in the most unconventional way.
Jensen thumped back a sharp return catch which Kerr dropped, but the deflection crashed into the stumps and Robertson was short of her ground.
The Sparks next assignment is against Canterbury at Hagley Oval on Boxing Day.
