The misshapen ground of a thousand theoretical runs became the ground of mishaps and almost the full quota of wickets.
In a World Cup tournament in which 300 has become par, old rivals and tournament favourites New Zealand and Australia barely made that between them at Eden Park.
Kane Williamson's nerveless six from the bowling of Pat Cummins won it for the Kiwis, but the margin was so negligible that if he had missed, Australia would have won. More than 40,000 Kiwi patrons laughed and cried and finally sighed, and were in the pubs before sunset, and this freaky World Cup took another twist.
Australia's middle order stumbled in a black hole dug by Trent Boult, who took 5/1 in 17 balls and finished with 5/27. One-hundred-and-fifty one all out looked like, and was, a rout.
But Mitchell Starc caused the ground to open up again under the Kiwis, taking 6/28. Four of them came in two two-ball salvos, all clean bowled, not to mention the half-dozen times he hit a single stump while bowling on the ground at the dinner break. That's form.
Between them, Starc and Boult scattered the stumps seven times. The clue was swing, previously thought to be a lost art in this tournament, re-alchemised in secret laboratories on either side of the Tasman. Its importance should not be underestimated. In a tournament in which heavyweight hitting is king, the teams with the best bowling hold the ace.
New Zealand's might look unprepossessing, but they have bowled out all four opponents, at the rate of 16 runs a wicket. But Australia's seam attack is formidably deep, too.
But was it crafty bowling, or slapdash batting – not to be confused with slash and dab batting, the one-day norm? Michael Clarke, still the Australian captain, thought both. He acknowledged the class of the Kiwis' bowling, and said of Starc: "That individual performance was as good as you will see in any form of the game."
But Clarke also regretted Australia's "extremely poor" batting, especially in constructing defence. "I think sometimes in T20 and one-day cricket you can get caught up in the power side of the game," he said. "I don't think we've had too many training sessions where we have worked on the start of our game, actually defending against the brand new ball, or the swinging ball."
Here was cricket in evolution: once, it was said that one-day cricket would be the ruin of Test match technique. Now, T20 might be interfering with one-day methodology.
Nothing about this day was orthodox. Two weeks' worth of hyper build-up funnelled into the whirlwind opening sallies. The first three overs featured two sixes, four byes over the wicketkeeper's head, a handful of wides, a wicket, several dot balls and, for Dave Warner, one wanker chant. It was if the Kiwis had to work out a bit of lust, Australia – after two inactive weeks – a bit of rust.
At 1/80, nothing portended Australia's evisceration, nor did context make sense of it as last-wicket pair Brad Haddin and Cummins put on 45 trouble-free.
The New Zealand seamers did damage, but the change-up bowler again was wily old Daniel Vettori, who by the time Australia decoded his looping left-armers had finished his spell. He might yet prove to be the Kiwis' ace in the hole in this tournament.
In New Zealand's turn, there was was no early swing for Mitch Johnson, but plenty from the freakish Brendon McCullum. After one legal ball of the innings, New Zealand was 0/11. McCullum reached 50 from 21 balls, Johnson 0/50 from 22.
But Johnson did strike a blow of sorts, a stinging one to McCullum's forearm. This was near to Bodyline as one-day cricket comes. McCullum shrugged it off, but morning and X-ray's clear might yet turn this into the most significant moment of the day.
The Kiwis needed all of McCullum's pre-emptive strike. Williamson played a Test-pace innings to shore up the Kiwis, but with nine out, six needed and Cummins steaming in had only one intention.
"To be honest, I thought it was going to be a bit shorter," he said. "So it was nice to get a ball up there, and to connect and hit it for six."
Publicly, Clarke did not regret spelling Starc at his rampant peak, but privately he might. He said Starc needed a breather. By day's end, everyone did.
