Tech's Ross Kinnerley makes it home during his 46 not out in the win over Marist on Saturday.
All it needed was for Tasman Tanning No3 pitch to be painted red and Victoria Park would have resembled a traffic light for Saturday's national club championship qualifiers.
There was a total contrast in the two playing surfaces and that told in the scorelines for the four Wanganui Porter Hire Premier 1 teams as St Johns Tech would see off Marist by 37 runs on a decent batting strip for No2.
Across on the No1 ground, Property Brokers United were able to secure an extraordinary 112-run victory despite scoring less than 150 after Matt Burke Engineering Marton Saracens were wiped out on a very green pitch that proved a pace man's paradise.
The warnings were there for all when even Saracen's medium pacers Josh Trillo (3-17) and Dominic Rayner (2-24) were able to extract bounce and speed out of No1, with the entire United top order gone by the 18th over at 74-5.
The score was only that high because in-form representative batsman Greg Smith was able to get hold of Dan Ford (2-50) in his early overs, making 42 from 46 balls in the sole innings of confidence before Trillo had him trapped in front.
The veterans of Brendon Walker (17), captain Gerrard Hobbs (19) and Stephen Holloway (15) tried to survive and grind out any kind of runs they could, while the team jokingly encouraged their young bowler Ryan Slight to store some of his treatment in the memory banks - after ducking under and into some bounces.
Not wanting glumness to set in, Hobbs ordered the team to be ready for throw downs early before their turn to bowl, and as it turned out, their score of 144 might as well have been 344 on that grassy wicket.
Stopping only for a brief 10 minute spell for rain, United's opening bowlers Slight and Simon Badger ripped through Marton in just 12 overs for a shattering 32.
While Badger (2-22) is not the quickest bowler, he immediately extracted fearsome bounce and Hobbs swiftly introduced three slips and a gully to leave Marton feeling like they were in a shooting gallery.
Slight was unplayable and finished with personal best figures of 7-10 from his 36 deliveries, with most of his victims barely surviving an over.
Hamish Harding, Sam Lambert, Rayner, Trey Bidois, Ford, Jamie Simmons and Bryant Galpin all faced him and then departed with check out queue regularity.
Rayner had managed to secure the services of Wanganui's Meads Cup winning first-five and handy former Manawatu cricketer Craig Clare, whose 11 from 24 balls was the clear top score until Badger had him caught behind.
Other than that, a fellow called Wides was the only other score in double digits.
Marist would come to rue Mr Wides with a passion as their bowlers did not make a swift transition from red ball cricket to white, which proved their undoing in the loss to Tech.
While bowler Matthew Bennett (2-34) was able to pick up key Tech allrounders Nick Harding and Akash Gill early on the No2 pitch, Calum Coker (44) found himself leaving ball after ball going down leg from Bennett and Sam Beard.
In total, Marist would gift Tech nearly 10 overs of extra deliveries from wides alone, out of the 69 extras total.
Tech skipper Dominic Lock (59) was able to ride his luck with a couple of smashes straight up in the air being put down, while Kane Watkin (40) patiently worked with him to have their team well set at 186-3 after 34 overs.
Marist captain Mark Fraser (4-29) brought himself on and stopped the leaking of unforced extras, getting the ball up and straight, eventually luring Lock to be caught by a close-in slip.
That triggered a mini collapse as Fraser out thought Tech's lower order, while the returning Sam O'Leary tightened his line to pick up his first scalp since his long injury layoff.
However, allrounder Ross Kinnerley (46 not out) stayed the course, including smashing the last delivery for six to lift his team to an imposing 274-8.
Tech's bowlers learned from watching Marist because while they also had some struggles with line and length, they were nowhere near as generous with 24 extras conceded.
Harding and Kinnerley hit the stumps early, but Marist were still building nicely at 94-3 in the 23rd over, as Todd Inness (32) was defending his end while Fraser (77 from 71) was in control.
Recognising pace could be inaccurate, Tech brought on Coker (3-36) for a steady stream of offspin, and while the Marist pair worked him around they could not get a crucial big scoring over, with the run rate ticking up to nearly eight.
Coker finally tempted both Inness and Cameron Beard to run out of patience, with Watkin whipping their bails off, leaving all hope with Fraser to carry the tail through with 85 runs needed from the last ten overs.
The decisive blow was struck when Gill returned to the attack and with his very first delivery, caught Fraser playing inside a perfect length ball to claim his stumps and get payback for the caning he received in the Premier league the last time they met.
Kent Darlington (28) tried to carry on but Gill, Kinnerley, and Caleb Greene had Marist's tailenders playing and missing too often, taking the match virtually out of reach with three overs remaining, as the last wicket was a comical run out where both batsmen were stranded at the same end.
United and Tech will now play the local final of the NCC qualifiers this Saturday, before the winner meets the Taranaki one-day club champions on Sunday at Victoria Park.
Scoreboard
Tech 274-8 (D Lock 59, R Kinnerley 46no, C Coker 44, K Watkin 40, M Fraser 4-29) bt Marist 237 (M Fraser 77, I Inness 32, J McIlraith 28, K Darlington 28, C Coker 3-36) bt 37 runs.
United 144 (G Smith 42, J Trillo 3-17) bt Marton 32 (R Slight 7-10, S Badger 2-22) by 112 runs.