Neither Mahela Jayawardene nor Jesse Ryder turned up at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, today when it mattered most.
THE sun ducked behind the clouds, the temperature plummeted and the errant Wasp took a dive from 65 per cent chances of Central Districts winning to 14 per cent.
The writing was on the wall for the Stags at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, in the McDonald's Super Smash T20 grand final against the Wellington Firebirds as their big-hitting top-order batsmen came and went for a busker's donation.
It went something like golden duck, two, duck as Sri Lanka import Mahela Jayawardene, Black Cap George Worker and hardly-employed Jesse Ryder came and went, respectively, for the table-topping hosts.
CD skipper William Young had won the toss and elected to bowl amid heightened expectations as the Firebirds posted a defendable target of 173-7.
But when the Stags brought up their 100th run a ball shy of the 16th over the crowd facetiously clapped and jeered as the pre-match favourites lost by 14 runs.
Teenager Joshua Clarkson kept hopes alive but the Stags needed 36 off the last over, equating to six sixes with a boundary for a leeway.
Clarkson hit a four first up off Anurag Verma but the next ball was a dot and the third a run out of tailender Ryan McCone.
Game over but someone forgot to tell that to a buoyant Puke capacity crowd who gallantly stayed on to clap Clarkson's half ton.
For Wellington skipper Hamish Marshall, who had departed for a duck in their innings, it was a great lesson on never say die.
Marshall had his spittle shiners to thank.
New-ball merchant Brent Arnel spearheaded their attack with a superb 2-16 for four overs on the doormat of any landscape and Elliott backed him up with slow deliveries to ensure CD batsmen never settled in.
Hamish Bennett and Jeetan Patel stayed below 10 while Verma was the only one to go for double figures (11.75) although he was vital in bowling the last over.
Like the hosts, Wellington batsmen came and went.
Black Caps-bound No 3 Tom Blundell had followed Marshall with a golden duck after playing an injudicious shot to leave CD seamer Blair Tickner sitting on a hattrick.
The visitors couldn't have asked for a better batsman than former Black Cap Grant Elliott to face the ball as he denied Tickner a hattrick, lunging out on the offstump but electing to leave a goodish delivery amid orchestrated clapping from an expectant partisan capacity crowd.
The Wasp predicted a total of 165 runs but the Stags kept the Firebirebirds at five runs and over with the field restrictions in place.
It took 32 balls before Elliott popped medium pacer McCone for the game's first six from the bowler's first delivery.
However, McCone had the last say when he had No 4 Elliott skewing a mistimed pitch-wedge shot down the throat of Joshua Clarkson for 16 runs to leave the Firebirds at 3-34 in 5.5 overs.
For the next few overs Wellington seemed content to simply tick the scoreboard over with singles but the CD inner ring needed to do better in putting more pressure on the batsmen.
The Firebirds brought up their 50 runs in 9.1 overs but Michael Papps, who had hit spinner Worker for a six in 10.2 overs, got carried away when he tried to deposit it over long off only to find it dipping into the safe hands of another tweaker, Marty Kain, to lose his wicket for 29 runs (4-65).
A few spots of rain had fans looking skywards but it was 5-80 in 12.1 overs when Worker this time enticed to loft a feeble attempt to McCone on the boundary for seven runs. That marked a super spell from Worker who took 2-20 from his four allotted overs.
Kain followed soon after, wicketless but, dutifully, only going for 5.75 an over.
However, Michael Pollard took a shine to McCone but Young brought Tickner back in to stop the rot the very next over, the No 5 batsman departing for 32 runs with his bails switched on. Firebirds 109-6.
Tickner then had No 8 Anurag Verma timidly caught and bowled to finish the over for 115-7 and the writing was on the wall from a batting perspective and demanding their bowlers to perform miracles on a compact park.
However, No 7 Matt Taylor and No 9 Jeetan Patel prove to be nuisance value to Rance and Tickner for sixes and fours to take it to 150-7 in the dying overs.
The pair did well to boost the Firebirds' total to 172-7 with Taylor unbeaten on 48, including three boundaries and four sixes, and Patel chiming in with 28 not out, including a four and three sixes.
It was peculiar that Young used McCone to bowl the final over, considering he was the most expensive to finish with 1-58, the only bowler to go above the 10 mark (14.5).
Ticker was the top wicket taker with 4-34 while Rance was unusually wicketless but still up there in frugality with Tickner at 8.25 an over.
Red-ball spin whizz Ajaz Patel was 12th man for CD and Peter Younghusband for the Firebirds while CD seamer Navin Patel was left out.