AS far as anti-climaxes go, this was up there among the best.
We mentioned a week or two back how there was hardly a rush of anticipation ahead of Yorkshire's forthcoming Pro40 campaign, and how right that proved to be.
It's been an inglorious few weeks for the club, with that hugely disappointing performance and subsequent defeat in the Friends Provident Trophy semi final followed with indecent haste by the Twenty20 fiasco at Durham, of which enough has already been said.
To top it off, there was another reverse, this time in the County Championship at Canterbury, so there was perhaps not the best spirit in the camp as the side made the long journey to Chelmsford to face Essex in their opening Pro40 clash.
We tried, and for the most part failed, to muster a smattering of enthusiasm for this much maligned late season competition with the news that skipper Darren Gough was returning to the squad and there was talk of a determined effort to gain promotion to Division One.
But almost as the players were about to take the field at Chelmsford came the announcement of the ECB's revamp, which included the news that the Pro40 was to be wound up after next season's competition.
A great way to launch a tournament, wouldn't you say?
So even the slivers of interest we may have in a promotion campaign have effectively been taken away.
There's really no point.
The Tykes might as well play out the time in Division Two where, it has been pointed out, the best two one day teams in the country, Essex and Kent, are currently plying their trade.
Apart from that, there is little to raise much enthusiasm, and the only blessing is that Headingley Carnegie hosts just two games in the Pro40, with the other two home clashes the White Rose men are playing having been allocated to the Scarborough Festival at the end of August.
So with the Pro40 a bit of a write off and Yorkshire's interest in the two cup competitions having ended abruptly in the space of two days a couple of weeks ago, what is there for Tykes fans to look forward to in the two remaining months of the season?
Quite a bit actually.
Amazingly, despite having won just two games so far this season, such is the tightness of the LV County Championship Division One table that there is still a realistic chance of the four day crown, the domestic game's ultimate prize, ending up at Headingley Carnegie.
There are still four hone games to enjoy, and with the next of those, which unfortunately is not until July 30, being against struggling Surrey, the Tykes have a golden chance to get right back into the leading pack.
And if they do so, there is an absorbing run in which includes a Roses clash at Old Trafford and a couple of four day games at Scarborough.
Add that to the chance to hopefully see Adil Rashid, Ajmal Shahzad and the rest of the younger players making more progress before the summer is out, and it doesn't look too bad.
It might have been a grim few weeks, but don't pack up your deck chair and sun block just yet.