Doshi treble lights up a dismal night for Derbys
Only in this competition does the show have to go on in conditions that are so patently unfit for cricket. All that was needed to complete the farce was for the umpire's trousers to fall down.
Only by good fortune was no-one injured.
In the pitch black, Derbyshire lost the opening match of this season's competition by five wickets to Durham at the Riverside.
Set 48 to win off seven overs under the Duckworth/Lewis Method (just to add to the confusion), Shaun Pollock clipped the winning two runs to backward square leg with one ball remaining.
That was how close the Phantoms came to stealing the victory, after Nayan Doshi took a hat-trick in the penultimate over to set the home side's nerves on edge.
In truth, they would not really have deserved to take the win after squandering a good start with the bat. Nor would winning the match have made it any less ridiculous a spectacle.
Durham would have been fancied to cruise to the revised target in normal conditions but when Michael Di Venuto was run out off the second ball by John Sadler's direct hit from mid off and Paul Collingwood was lbw to Graham Wagg to make it 12-2 at the end of the second over, Derbyshire hopes stirred.
The Dynamos had only 14 on the board at the end of the third over but the fourth, bowled by Wagg, turned the game.
Phil Mustard and Will Smith hit four fours between them – two off the outside edge to fine third man – to make it 31-2 with three overs to go.
Ten more were added in the next but Doshi, who has happy memories of this competition, took wickets with his second, third and fourth balls and conceded only a single off the last.
It was left to Jon Clare to ball the final over with six needed to win. With three balls to go, Durham wanted another four but Clare's next delivery was chest-high full toss – a no-ball.
The fourth ball brought no run but Pollock, drafted in by Durham especially for this competition, squeezed the fifth away to complete the win.
The veteran South African had already proved his worth with the ball, taking 1-11 in his four overs, but it was a performance eclipsed by Collingwood, who finished with 5-14, the joint fourth-best bowling analysis in the short history of the Twenty20 Cup.
That came after Greg Smith, playing his first senior match since the opening Championship fixture at Bristol almost two months ago because of an arm injury, had set the innings away excellently well.
Derbyshire batted after winning the toss and Smith scored 47 off 28 balls with seven fours before Liam Plunkett held an outstanding return catch. His reflexes were superb but it was one of those that stick only occasionally.
But after Smith was out, at 61-2 at the beginning of the ninth, the runs dried up.
Wavell Hinds, relieved to have the chance to put bat on ball, hit 23 off 25 balls with four fours but the rest failed, many of them reaching for the spectacular when something a little more subtle would have done the job.
In all, it was a forgettable night. If this is the future of cricket, Lord help us.
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