Bayer Marist have an all-but-unbeatable lead on top of the Wanganui Premier League but not without a few heart palpitations against Matt Burke Engineering Marton Saracens as the ball dominated the bat at Centennial Park in Marton on Saturday.
In total 18 wickets fell for less than 200 runs asMarist stumbled through to 102-8 chasing Marton's 98 all out.
Having rolled the home team with sundries being one of the best scorers, Marist thought they had matters well in hand at 70-3 after John McIlraith (24) and Brett Cameron (28) put a few runs together.
However, they lost four wickets while only adding 10 more runs and the tail had to survive as Marton used the same two bowlers in John Carroll and Dan Ford for the entire innings.
"There wasn't too much wrong with the wicket, but there was some bad batting at times," said Marist captain Mark Fraser.
"John Carroll had one the better days he's had in 10 years.
"There was a few [batsmen] bowled actually, it was doing a little bit off the wicket at times, and catches as the ball held up."
Carroll finished with a five wicket bag while Ford got the other three. During Marton's collapse, it was once again the Kinnerley brothers who were the chief destroyers, as Ross and older sibling Fraser took four wickets each.
Marist remain unbeaten in the Premier League games which count for competition points their only blemish being the loss to Collegiate in a non-points match the previous weekend.
They look all but certain to claim their first title in the second year of the Premier League with two points games remaining to play.
Property Brokers United had been scheduled to play Collegiate yesterday, but the pin was pulled after the school team had to travel.
