Rain may have had the final say in the Mzansi Super League eliminator between the Jozi Stars and the Paarl Rocks, but it does allow the two best teams to share the inaugural final spotlight at Newlands today.
The Stars and hosts Cape Town Blitz convincingly beat each other in their respective away games, which makes for a sizzling showpiece game in which the weather isn't expected to intervene.
Rocks captain Faf du Plessis had every reason to be aggrieved over a lack of a reserve day and understandably so.
The Rocks had beaten both teams above them but the log mathematics were entirely in the finalists corner.
The Stars had made the bigger plays throughout the tournament and only one of their wins wasn't a bonus-point one.
The Stars had muscled their way to second and the weather played along.
WE'VE PLAYED SOME GOOD CRICKET
The lack of cricket on Friday was a concern for Stars captain Dane Vilas from a loss of momentum perspective but Mother Nature isn't the type to be messed with.
"You do want to play in the semifinals and when you play in the big games, that can only make you a better player. We would've taken a lot of confidence if we'd won in the way we wanted to and take it into the final. It's bittersweet but we're happy that we're in the final and we've played some good cricket to get into the final but we would've loved to have an opportunity to play," Vilas said.
The Stars and the Blitz took bonus-point wins off each other in the league stages - results that leave the final wide open.
Also, the game requires a team just to play the best cricket without having to worry about log positions.
Vilas, though, has the benefit of a cohesive top order that's scored runs at most junctures.
"The guys are playing well but you'd find that in a tournament like this you normally have one guy coming off and dominating. For us it's nice to have guys like Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks who are challenging each other at the top for leading run-scorer. You also have guys challenging each other in the bowling department," Vilas said...