For another season, the shortest form of the game is over for Derbyshire CCC and the county can look forward to concentrating on the Championship.
The Twenty20 Cup at least ended on a high note when Yorkshire were beaten at Headingley on Sunday but by then, all hopes of reaching the quarter-finals had long gone.
If Derbyshire had been judged on what they did at the start and end of a tough N
orth Division, they would have emerged with considerable credit.
An impressive opening victory over Durham was followed by a comprehensive win at Leicester but those games proved to be a false dawn as the next seven matches ended in defeat.
Derbyshire came in for some maulings along the way – they were well and truly Freddied by Andrew Flintoff last week – and despite the win over Yorskhire, finished bottom of the group.
What must have frustrated head of cricket John Morris is the inconsistency that has held his team back in the one-day competitions since he took on the job.
There is no doubt that Derbyshire are capable of playing some good cricket but putting everything together on the day is a trick which too often eludes the players in limited overs games.
The penultimate game at Trent Bridge was a good case in point as Derbyshire could not defend a good total of 165 and were beaten with more than three overs remaining.
Morris was again left with the task of reflecting on what might have been and he admitted: ''I thought we batted well but we've seen all through this competition that when we've batted well, our bowlers haven't performed for us and vise versa.
''We have put 150-plus on the board for the last three times on the bounce now and we haven't been able to bowl well enough to make them winning scores.
''We have lads there who are trying for us and it's not as if we haven't tried different things.
''It's just that we can only work with what we've got and if you are a little bit off line in this game, you are carted.
''We're not making excuses, it wasn't good enough and anyone who's seen the games knows that.
''We're all deflated, we're all disappointed, we're all down but we've got to rally round.''
Derbyshire have every chance to challenge in the County Championship if Wavell Hinds builds on his match-saving century against Glamorgan in the last round of matches and Nantie Hayward can inject some extra pace into the attack.
Division Two is still wide open and, if Derbyshire can avoid long-term injuries in the next three months, they could make the second half of the season a thrilling one for the supporters.
