Whilst Nottinghamshire’s James Taylor was securing victory for England by hitting the winning runs against West Indies in Sydney, a future team-mate was doing the same for his side in Christchurch.
Vernon Philander, due to join the Trent Bridge staff for the first few weeks of the forthcoming season, saw South Africa over the line in their first warm-up match after flying into New Zealand a couple of days ago.
With the eleventh ICC World Cup beginning at the weekend, all 14 competing nations have been putting the finishing touches to their preparations.
South Africa, eternal under-achievers but again strongly fancied to do well, overcame three interruptions for rain to defeat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets under the Duckworth Lewis method.
Philander made telling contributions with ball and bat as the South Africans put down a marker as to their current form.
After winning the toss and inserting, the Proteas struck early with 29-year old Philander having Lahiru Thirimanne caught at the wicket in only the second over.
Philander only sent down 5 overs, returning figures of 1-24 as his side took the opportunity to give eight different bowlers a chance to experience the conditions and blow away any cobwebs.
Kyle Abbott, with 3 wickets, and Wayne Parnell, who took 2, were their most successful bowlers as Sri Lanka made 279-7 from 44.4 overs.
Opener Tillakaratne Dilsham made exactly 100 and a total of over 300 seemed likely until the rain intervened, also preventing Philander from returning for a closing spell.
The South Africa target was twice adjusted after further delays. 224 from 30 overs became 188 from 25 but an opening stand of 116 in 15 overs between Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla seemed sure to set them on their way.
de Kock fell for 66, a dismissal which heralded something of a collapse, as 5 wickets went down for only 51.
With 40 still required from the final 4 overs calm heads were required and Rilee Roussow and Philander provided the perfect response to the pressure situation.
Roussow made 16 from 9 balls and Philander finished on 13 not out, having faced only 6 deliveries. The new Notts acquisition hit Nuwan Kulasekara high over the ropes in the penultimate over and then clipped Lasith Malinga away for a couple to win the match with 3 balls remaining.
South Africa’s impressive performance won’t have gone unnoticed, particularly by the Australians. The joint-hosts see themselves as the stand-out team and re-enforced that view with a 106-run victory over India in Adelaide.
India, the defending champions, have looked out of sorts in recent weeks and their bowling was again put to the sword as the Australians hammered a mighty 371 all out in 48.1 overs.
David Warner scored 104 and Glenn Maxwell retired himself out on 122 in the huge total, India were dismissed for 265 in reply, although Dhawan, Rahane and Rayudu all passed 50.
The other joint-hosts, New Zealand, were left frustrated as their intended match with Zimbabwe was completely washed-out in Lincoln.
Pakistan won the day’s other match narrowly, defeating Bangladesh by 3 wickets with 11 balls remaining. Tamim Iqbal, briefly a Nottinghamshire T20 player in 2011, scored 81 as Bangladesh made 246 before being bowled out in the final over.
An undefeated 93 from Sohaib Maqsood saw Pakistan to their target, reminding supporters of their success in the 1992 competition, the last time it was played Down Under.
The other competing nations, Scotland, Ireland, United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan are also honing their skills ahead of the tournament, which begins late Friday night (UK time), with New Zealand hosting Sri Lanka in Christchurch.
Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to take in what promises to be an absorbing contest and secure your seat now.