Strong starts in both the t20 and One-Day Cups suggested the Falcons were quarter-final contenders but two defeats in the space of 48 hours consigned them to the role of also-rans for another year.
The wet summer did them no favours at times but the biggest frustration for supporters was the inconsistency that dogged them in both competitions.
It was a failing that was not lost on head coach John Sadler, who admitted: “We genuinely at the start of both competitions had high hopes and expectations of getting to a quarter-final with the team we’ve got.
“But we’ve not played good enough cricket throughout in the second half of the One-Day Cup, I think the break probably came at the wrong time for us, we had good momentum then in all white ball cricket.
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“But we can’t just turn it on and off, we have to be consistent and our skills have not been up to speed and good enough under pressure at key moments. We’ve showed glimpses of how good we are but unfortunately we’ve not been good enough throughout.”
Ironically, some of the best performances came against teams from Division One and demonstrated how close Derbyshire are from being a competitive one-day team.
“We have to reflect and make sure we come back even stronger next year, “ Sadler said. “There’s a lot of planning going into this winter and next season already and while it’s disappointing how it’s finished, we are progressing and we are getting better.
“We have a good set of guys and with good planning and good prep over the winter, we believe we can come back stronger next year.”