After a period of nationwide dominance in 20/20 cricket, it was inevitable that the Associates would need to rebuild as one by one a series of greats from the past aged, left or simply gave up. This is the story of that difficult period where despite the monumental difficulties facing them, the Associates never failed to make it to the KO semi-finals. But there's far more to it than that: back stabbing, nepotism and shameless self serving all feature here but the glue that held the team together still worked, namely the humble onion ring.