The hints were coming through the sound system via music when CD closet fan/comedian Ben Hurley asked restless fans to text their requests while waiting.
It had a touch of subtlety in Lorde's Royals about 4.46pm in the line: "We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair ... "
Swearing kicked in from some quarters of the park as some irate fans yelled out and booed at the red shirts to vamoose.
You somehow got the impression it was going to take a lot more than Hurley's dulcet tones to appease the expectant mob.
Even the cluster of three Australian supporters, patriotically flying flags and dancing, had lost patience.
At 5.37pm, Black Eyed Peas' number, Let's Get It Started, started pumping through the speakers as the red shirts marched off.
No one was going anywhere and rightly so.
The crowd was ropeable.
It didn't help that the Black Caps and Australia players (Why is it that they don't have nicknames like Wallabies, Matildas and Boomers?) were rolled out to warm up in front of the crowd.
Was it going to morph into a 35-over spell? Maybe 20? Oh what the heck throw us a five-over one then.
The signs are ominous when the official ground announcer mentions the words "player safety".
Was it a day when raucous clapping was going to drown out the police and guardians of the top summer sport in the country?
Four Red Badge security officers moving on to the field to face the crowd suggested there was going to be a stand-off of sorts but their odds, if things turned ugly, weren't good although Bay fans are vociferous but traditonally pretty docile when push comes to shove.
By 6pm another clapping session and a feeble attempt at a Mexican wave.
At 6.13pm the disclosure that the red shirts would re-inspect the field drew collective audible groans as some fans slowly started snaking their way out of the stands and embankment.
Pockets of mature fans were standing up, arms folded engaging in hand-waving discussions akin to blokes haggling over the price of livestock in the dusty pens of Stortford Lodge in Hastings.
It's all good to hurl abuse at the custodians of the game but the net of accountability should be flung far and wide to get to the bottom of it to remove controllables such as poor drainage.
By 6.45pm even the rain gods were at their tether and couldn't hold back another fine drizzle.
"It's such a shame. The ground is unfit for play. We love having you here and it's great to be here," the official ground announcer chimed in, adding fans could obtain their refunds at Ticketek.
It begged the question: Why was the drainage in parts of the outfield poor?
It was barely a downpour. The greatest weather in the world is no good if a venue collects water after a few hours of drizzle.
Hawke's Bay's reputation as a location was intact but the same cannot be said of the venue.
Your honour, there's a case to answer in The People versus Cricket.
It seems another item has just been added to the agenda of Central Districts Cricket and the Napier City Council in terms of ongoing investments to ensure the international park doesn't start slipping down the pecking order of New Zealand Cricket.
After all, this sort of carry on happens in New Plymouth, Wellington and Palmerston North.
Surely not in the Bay where the sun will shine for the next few endless weeks.
By 7pm the fans had taken over the prime real estate.
Even the Red Badge security officers were chucking the ball back at the pitch invaders trampling over Stoyanoff's labour of love amid the din of a fire or security alarm set off at the Lowe Corporation stand.
How prophetic the words of Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay president Will Foley turned out to be on how the drizzle will do neither farmers nor fans any favours.
