No6 Kieran Noema-Barnett (41 runs from 30 balls) and No5 Van Wyk (34 runs/39 balls) steadied their innings after a wobbly top-order, bar No3 Will Young (30/22), effort.
"We had a pretty good bowling attack in Ben Wheeler taking early wickets," he said after the opening seamer took 4-8, including a maiden, from his four overs to help skittle the Aces for 90 runs with three overs to spare.
In yesterday's match against the hosts, Rance said CD simply didn't have enough runs on the board to play with.
"With someone like [opener Michael] Pollard coming in hard with 50, half the total is gone."
He lauded former Black Caps spinner Jeetan Patel, who took 4-11, including a maiden, from his four overs.
Rance said playing an afternoon match at Westpac Trust yesterday also took the sheen off the Heinrich Malan-coached Stags' bowling attack.
"The ball swings less in the day," he said, excited by the prospect of playing two-night matches in the next round of matches at McLean Park, Napier, this weekend.
The Stags will host Otago Volts on Friday from 7.10pm and the Northern Districts Knights the following day from 7pm. Their last T20 pool match will be against the Canterbury Kings at 3.50pm on Sunday.
"We're still very confident of winning three out of three games," Rance said, but conceded CD would be relying on a mathematical chance of qualifying depending on how other teams fare before the playoffs on December 5 at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
"It would be nice to have a lot of support in Napier," he said.
With many high school students finishing their NCEA level exams this week Rance said the weekend diet of cricket would be a great way for them to unwind.
"The tickets are pretty cheap, too."
The poor turnouts this summer around various venues didn't affect the players who were keen to play whether there were "5 or 5000 fans".
