It seemed like a below-par score of 165-9 in the 20 allotted overs from CD last night or was the humidity going to work in their favour anyway after No 4 Tom Bruce's 54 from 31 balls put some respectability into their innings.
The water table and fishermen's tales on what the wicket does at McLean Park are well documented but it was always going to boil down to what the bowlers were going to do last night that was going to make the difference.
Speed merchant Adam Milne started the defending champions' inevitable collapse early for just 12 runs to claim skipper Michael Papps' scalp before medium pacer Seth Rance chimed in with two wickets in an over (Tom Blundell and Stephen Murdoch) to leave the top order all at sea.
Rance's "reign dance" certainly delighted the smattering of CD fans but the wicket of the night belonged to spinner Marty Kain who took dangerman Matthew Pollard's caught-and-bowled wicket for 44 runs in 15.1 overs to leave the Firebirds floundering at 8-120.
Grimacing, Kain shook his right hand like a rag doll, before teammates rushed to his aid. The Nelson player, who is noted for his grasshopper-like action, left the field but by then the job had been done.
"It's a shade sore right now but it'll be fine," said Kain from the changing rooms, revealing the hand had been giving him problems throughout the campaign.
But he expected the pleasure of victory to overcome the pain when he woke up this morning to reflect on the win.
"The boys obviously did a superb job to clean up after I left the field.
"It was a bloody good win and the innings from Brucie [Bruce] was outstanding so he should be the man of the match," he said.
Kain said it was a fine wicket from head groundsman Phil Stoyanoff and 160-odd runs was always going to make the task a challenging one.
CD captain George Worked scored 30 runs and departed not long after Jayawardene uncharacteristically mistimed another shot when play resumed from the sun break for 23 runs.
Seamer Anurag Verma, who Wellington skipper Michael Pollard used from both ends, was the pick of the visitors' bowlers with 4-27 from four overs although Luke Woodcock and Alecz Day were a fraction outside him in the frugality stakes.
The top three Firebirds batsmen failed to provide a decent platform before wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi, whose parents live in Napier, scored 42 from 22 balls to claim the best strike rate (190.9) of the night.
No 4 Ronchi found an ally in No 5 Pollard (from 34 balls) but the rest, regrettably, became just more entries for a cellphone directory.
It is hard to believe the Bruce Edgar-coached Wellingtonians are a shadow of the title-winning side from last summer.
Milne, Rance, Kain and English import Mitchell Claydon, of Australia, shared the kudos in the CD bowling department with two wickets each although the label of the miserly one went to Worker who spun at three runs an over to claim a scalp from just one over.
A fairy-tale T20 chapter for the Stags will be to defy the unthinkable odds to secure a playoff berth although the CD faithful may argue winning the crown would be the ideal conclusion to happy endings.
For what it's worth, the T20 domestic competition has kept the hopes of five out of six teams alive right down to the final round of games.
