As Forthill Sports Club did its best to cope with a power outage that had left much of the vicinity in chaos, on the field, the lights finally went out on a sparkling UAE effort against Scotland.
The home team were about a third of the way into their pursuit of 232 to win in 40 overs in a rain-curtailed one-day international when a powerline was accidentally severed.
It had a variety of effects, chief among them was that around 250 homes in this spruce area of east Dundee were left without electricity.
The online broadcast of the Cricket World Cup League Two tie between the title-chasing Scots and last-placed UAE immediately blacked out.
The electronic scoreboard went down. Initially, that was remedied when the groundstaff found a rudimentary manual one instead.
Then a generator was borrowed from a pop-up coffee van, and power was restored to keep everyone watching in the loop about what was actually going on.
Once they were brought up to speed, it was clear the crowd were in for another classic finish at a venue which has come to specialise in them.
Harpreet Bhatia, who was leading his side for the first time in just his fifth ODI, had promised ahead of the game that people would see a new UAE side here.
He was as good as his word. The national team were a side transformed from one that had stumbled from one shambles to the next over the past three years.
From the start, they took the game to the defending champions of this competition, a side who had sealed their place in the next phase of the World Cup qualification process in their previous outing.
The UAE will almost certainly have to go through a perilous repechage competition if they are to join Scotland at that World Cup Qualifier in February.
They will be confident they can do so, though, if they can reprise their plucky performance in Dundee. It started with a fine century from Adeeb Usmani, propping up the UAE total of 231 for eight from their 40 overs.
It was only the wicketkeeper-opener’s fifth game for the UAE, after he became eligible earlier this year. Yet it was his third score over 50.
The tourists were amped at the start of Scotland’s reply. They reduced the hosts to two for two, the most striking moment was a brilliant diving catch by Aayan Khan on his return to the side.
Scotland rebuilt, but the UAE kept picking away at them, with left-arm pacer Mohammed Jawadullah taking three wickets.
Matthew Cross, Scotland’s wicketkeeper, rallied his side with a counter-attacking 66 in 51 balls.
When UAE dismissed him with victory still not sealed, it felt as though the balance was tilting in their favour.
When Harpreet himself ran out Safyaan Sharif off the third ball of the final over, the Scots still required two to win.
Jasper Davidson dispatched the next ball for four, to give the hosts victory with one wicket and one ball to spare.
The UAE have never won an away ODI against Scotland, and they cannot get much closer. Harpreet, though, was proud of his side.
“It's a new challenge for everyone playing in Scotland, and I think we still played very good cricket,” Harpreet said.
“There was some ups and downs in the game, which happens. I won't say we were 20 runs short, but I would say after 30 overs we should have done a little better. I can say that was the big difference in the game.
“We were up all the time and we made 231 in 40 overs, which is a good score. Later on, we started well. We had two early wickets, and I think we should have been in this game.”
