Like customers running late for a barbecue, captain Kieran Noema-Barnett and his men found their marks on the batting crease before making inglorious exits, akin to those clambering to beat the yawning supermarket aisles through the self-service express lanes.
All out 94 in 19.1 overs - opener Ben Smith top scored with 16 runs while No 4 Will Young, No 6 Noema-Barnett and No 10 Seth Rance eked out 12 each.
Was Andrew Ellis - who bagged a five-wicket bag and, in doing so, eclipsing retired Chris Cairns' best figures (5-23) against CD - that good?
Maybe the Hagley Oval water table had something to do with the low total after the recent flooding in Christchurch?
Okay, having said that it is imperative to disclose that Canterbury opening batsmen, ex-CD cricketer George Worker and New Zealand international Tom Latham, showed how it's done on a supposedly juicy wicket. The pair carved up 46 not out from 38 balls, including seven boundaries and a six, and a more sedate 50 from 54 balls, respectively.
Whatever the theory, the Gary Stead-coached Cantabrians made the run chase resemble a dawdle across the park, overhauling the total with 97 runs from just 15.2 overs.
It begs the question, why couldn't the wicket-less CD mob emulate the feat of the opposition bowlers on a relatively virgin strip?
Bar Andrew Mathieson - who was thrifty at 4.5 runs an over including a maiden - the others, Bevan Small, Rance and Roald Badenhorst, went between six-point-something and a shade above eight runs an over.
Just as the batting has been quite often left to wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk to resurrect CD's anaemic innings most of this summer, he also found himself saddled with the post-match interview yesterday that went past a few pillars and posts before stopping with him.
Not one to mince words, the former Black Caps international emphasised they were disappointed and the pitch did have a mind of its own but they weren't going to fumble for excuses.
"It was never a 94 all out wicket. No, it wasn't that bad," Van Wyk lamented although he felt the first six or seven batsmen did not roll over to expose soft underbellies.
"We'll take the lesson on our chins and we won't be pointing a finger elsewhere," he said before they jet off to Auckland today for their round four clash against the Aces at Eden Park on Wednesday, albeit a a side who beat them by 92 runs in Nelson last Wednesday.
The 34-year-old South Africa-born said they were disappointed but most certainly not reduced to a sulking pile of mental mess.
"It didn't go our way today but then tomorrow is a new day. That's how we're looking at it.
"We'll get up tomorrow morning and there'll be a next challenge and we'll be up for it."
The Ruahine Motors Ford Central Hawke's Bay cricketer said while the team were predominantly young they again weren't going to make excuses about their inconsistency this summer.
The promising start with a thrashing of the Wellington Firebirds in round one now seems to be a distant memory.
The Heinrich Malan-coached side didn't fare too well in the T20 format either, finishing last for the second consecutive summer. They did sporadically show some ticker in the four-day, red-ball Plunket Shield campaign but they buckled when it mattered most amid a rash of injuries to allrounders and the absence of Black Cap Doug Bracewell through indiscipline.
For Van Wyk yesterday's result "was one of those days" when they got punished for just about every mistake. Even the luck of nicks and lbws deserted them.
Injuries meant CD have consistently tweaked the balance of their starting XI but they would return as rejuvenated batting and bowling units.
