Wet weather threatened to rain on England's parade - quite literally - but once the clouds decided to relent for a few hours, England hit their straps to complete a 10-run win over New Zealand and seal their place in the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
The match was in serious jeopardy of being abandoned courtesy some consistent and persistent rain in Cardiff, before, thanks to some excellent work from the ground staff, the umpires were able to sanction a 24-over game between the two sides.
Put into bat first, England managed a decent total of 169 all out in 23.3 overs, with skipper Alastair Cook playing a nice little 64 from 47 balls, which included four fours and two sixes.
In reply, New Zealand never really managed to put together a decent partnership, with only Kane Williamson (67 in 54) and debutant Corey Anderson (30) showing any kind of intent to stay at the crease.
The Kiwis eventually finished on 159 for eight in their 24 overs, to fall ten runs short.
"It's great to get the opportunity to keep it in our hands," Cook said. "Obviously, with the rain about, which at 8:00 this morning, wasn't there, and then you come off just before -- just after the toss and then everyone says, oh, it's just about to rain.
"It's just a bit of a relief that we managed to get on and we kept it in our own hands. It was a pretty good performance.
"It's always tricky batting first in a 24 over game. You never know quite what a good score is. It's not Twenty20, there's powerplays - 7 overs of powerplay -- which is different, and obviously, the wicket had been under covers for a while.
"So we didn't quite know what a good score was, and we got a competitive total in the end, and I thought we bowled very well."
New Zealand can still qualify for the semifinals if Australia beat Sri Lanka in their final game, and end up with an inferior nett run rate to the Kiwis. Sri Lanka will qualify for the semis at the expense of New Zealand if they top Australia.
Skipper Brendon McCullum, though, felt his side had lost the perfect opportunity to move into the semifinals.
"It is certainly not nice when you leave your destiny in someone else's hands," he said. We'll have to watch tomorrow's (Monday's) game and see what unfolds.
"But we had an opportunity today (Sunday) and we passed it up. So whatever unfolds from here will require some luck, and if we do get an opportunity, then great. If not, we know we've had a chance here and we passed it up."
