It was impossible to go past the irony as an outright victory became increasingly unlikely in Nelson.
Devon Hotel Central Districts Stags became the 2012-13 Plunket Shield champions on Saturday at Saxton Oval but the helping hand came from an all-too-familiar foes.
The Wellington Firebirds, who were a persistent thorn in the Stags' backside throughout the entire summer beating them in T20 and first-class matches, did the Alan Hunt-coached CD a huge favour by beating second-placed Otago Volts by 54 runs at the Basin Reserve.
It's not that Stags skipper Kieran Noema-Barnett and his troops couldn't have done the job, but it simply meant the hosts were happy to shake hands for a stalemate with the Northern Districts Knights who had continued their fightback on Saturday morning before declaring at 435-9 with James Marshall unbeaten on 156 and No 10 Ish Sodhi adding 51.
"It was good of them, wasn't it?" Hunt said of Wellington who skittled Otago for 145 in pursuit of 200 for victory on the final day, scuttling the Volts' hopes of pulling back CD's marginal lead.