Kiwi and South African players alike have expressed their admiration of Eden Park after the ground came up trumps for Friday's T20 tussle.
More than 36 millimetres of rain lashed Auckland on Thursday before another 16mm hit on Friday morning, making the game's cancellation a mere formality.
Yet somehow the Kingsland ground was able to drain in time for a 7pm start and stayed dry throughout, despite intermittent drizzle.
South Africa ultimately went on to cruise to a 78-run victory, taking advantage of a Kiwi batting collapse to limit their foes to 107.
"We talked about it, saying there's not a lot of grounds where it would crunch down for two days with rain, rock up and it's bone dry," Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis said.
"Thought it might be a red flag for guys getting injured in one-off T20 games before lots of important cricket, but as soon as I walked out on the park, amazed."
The experience at Eden Park follows the decision to transfer Napier's fourth New Zealand-South Africa ODI to Hamilton on account of poor field drainage.
Last fortnight's second Chappell-Hadlee ODI in the city had to be abandoned after the McLean Park outfield failed to drain, despite going five hours without rainfall.
Kiwi paceman Trent Boult, who notched 8-2 with the ball, said the experiences at the two grounds were chalk and cheese.
"It's a good surface considering it had been undercover for a couple of days, and not much to complain about on the outfield either," Boult said.
"Everything blew through nicely."
