Central Districts Hinds coach Mike Shrimpton and his Wellington Blaze counterpart, Leigh Kelly, could have done with some heart pills after today's Action Twenty/20 match in Palmerston North.
The Blaze snuck home on the last ball for a three-wicket victory to keep their final play-off hopes alive at a damp Fitzherbert Park.
With both sides locked on 118 runs with a ball to come, Wellington No 9 Allex Evans needed to score a run off her first and last delivery from Maneka Singh, barring any extras.
Evans came up trumps when she dug out a Yorker from the block hole as CD fielder Kate Baxter misfielded at mid-off to rob the hosts of a super over.
Evans and English import opener Sarah Taylor, unbeaten on 63, were so overjoyed they started hugging and celebrating mid-way on the wicket before a dejected Baxter rifled the ball back to the stumps.
"It would have been interesting," CD skipper Rachel Priest said, disappointed to have lost but delighted with her team's efforts.
"We did rather well to take it to the last ball when Wellington were cruising at one stage but with the calibre of batsmen they have they should have done much better," Priest said after the visiting batsmen came and went quicker than customers at a bank counter.
The rot set in at 15.1 overs when No 3 and skipper Megan Wakefield fell to Eimear Richardson's off spin for 36 runs.
Coming in for her second spell, left-arm medium pacer Singh rattled White Fern Liz Perry's furniture for three runs in her first delivery of the 17th over.
The New Zealand Emerging squad member then had No 5 Melinda Hodgson feathering her first delivery to wicketkeeper Priest but bowled a wide to No 6 Sian Ruck on her hattrick ball.
The 15-year-old returned in the last over to run out White Fern Ruck from Richardson's throw for two runs before having No 7 Thamsyn Newton stumped for two runs off a wide with two balls remaining.
The Hastings Girls' High School student then had wicketkeeper Priest stump No 8 Andrea Stockwell for a golden duck to sit on her second hattrick with a ball remaining and the Blaze needing one off the last ball.
With CD conceding 10 wides to the Blaze's eight and a no ball, Priest defended her team's indiscretions on the field.
"We got most of the [wet] fielding conditions. The ball was soaked and slippery ... ," she lamented after Wellington's fielding was also substandard without any of the fine drizzle that had kicked in half way through the second innings.
"I think we did bloody well coming off a string of losses to play with desire. It's good to finish with some guts out there."
Skipper Wakefield lauded the umpires, who changed the ball in the 14th over, for carrying on the game.
"We knew all our batsmen could hit the balls and do the job," she said.
Relishing the abandonment of the Northern Spirit v Auckland Hearts game at Seddon Park, Hamilton, due to rain, Wakefield said it was vital for the Blaze to clinch their last T20 game on Monday but ND need to beat the Hearts for the Blaze to sneak into the final.
While Taylor top scored although CD gave her another life when Holly Macdonald dropped her at mid-off for 24 runs, Wellington's player of the match was White Fern Lucy Doolan who spun her way to 3-15 while Deanna Doughty was 1-16 off her four overs, including a maiden.
Evans was the most frugal with 0-7 from two overs.
For CD, Singh finished with 4-26 while Richardson claimed 1-17 from three overs although opener Abby Burrows was the most frugal with 1-10 from four, including a maiden, begging the question if Burrows should have been held back an over or two to bowl in tandem with Singh at the death.
Having won the toss, Priest and Kerry Tomlinson padded up for a 38-run partnership with Priest scoring 31 runs (29 balls).
No 3 Sara McGlashan top scored with an unbeaten 45 off 39 balls for CD's 118-7 in 20 overs.
Unfortunately, the Hinds' middle-order batsmen again failed to fire.
While the groundsmen did a sterling job in covering the wicket tonight, the wind-less weather may make the fine drizzle a nuisance factor in tomorrow's Action Cup one-dayer.
Wakefield will be desperate to play for a crushing bonus-point victory as they trail the Hearts by a single point to make the final against defending champions Canterbury Magicians in both versions of the game.
A rained out affair will do the Blaze no favours as they need ND to beat Auckland to pip them for the second rung on the ladder.
In the third T20 game at Redwood Park, Christchurch, the Magicians snuck home with a two-wicket victory over last-placed Otago Sparks with five balls remaining.