Kent Spitfires will face Lancashire for the chance to be crowned Royal London Cup champions on Saturday 17 September at Trent Bridge.
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The Canterbury-based side will be bidding for a sixth List A title – but four fixtures in to their eight-game group stage, the vultures were circling.
Memories of Ollie Robinson's breathtaking career-best 206 in the Spitfires' season-opening success over Worcestershire were fading fast, with three consecutive defeats leaving Joe Denly's side emphatically on the back foot.
But perhaps that perilous position focused the mind. Ever since, Kent have been unbeaten in the 50-over format, beginning with a Hamidullah Qadri-inspired defeat of Northamptonshire.
An abandonment at Derby was followed by a rain-affected win over Yorkshire – Ben Compton the anchorman with 81, and Denly reminding the Spitfires faithful of his international all-round class with a half-century and three wickets.
Kent's final group game – a two-wicket win secured from the penultimate ball of the contest – took them to the quarter finals, where contributions from Denly and Joey Evison would set a target well out of Leicestershire Foxes' reach.
And so to the last four, and another glorious chapter of Darren Stevens' Indian Summer.
311 was the target set by Hampshire to secure a spot at the showpiece – a target which the Spitfires appeared to have within their grasp, despite the early loss of Evison and Compton.
A little extra impetus however, would not go amiss. Enter stage-left Stevens, with a simply staggering unbeaten 84 from 65 balls to end Hampshire's treble hopes and catapult his side into the final.
Stevens is set to leave Kent at the end of the season. With one more showpiece occasion to come, the evergreen all-rounder's career could yet have a fairytale conclusion.
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The Royal London Cup Final
The timeless pomp, ceremony and tradition of county cricket's historic 50-over final is soon to take place at Trent Bridge.
Lancashire and Kent will go head-to-head in the showpiece finale of the Royal London Cup at our historic home on Saturday 17 September.