BALLYMENA took a significant step towards safety after winning arguably the finest match in NCU Premier League history in astonishing fashion at Middle Road on Saturday.

Set a record-breaking 348 to win after Carrick’s Michael Taiaroa and Jamie Holmes smashed wonderful centuries, James Kennedy hit a hundred of his own as Ballymena won by one wicket with two balls to spare.

There was highly controversial finale though as the umpires imposed a six-run penalty on the home side for a slow over-rate ahead of the final over. But for the penalty, Ballymena would have needed 15 from Iain Parkhill’s six balls but instead it was a much more manageable nine.

Carrick were particularly incensed because they claimed Ballymena had gone over their allotted time of three hours and 10 minutes earlier in the match, but no penalty was imposed. However, the umpires say they had regularly warned home captain Ross Gelderbloem that he was likely to incur the penalty and that they had made allowances for various stoppages.

With nine needed, Simon McDowell, the Ballymena captain, took a single from Parkhill’s first ball and Michael Glass, the veteran seam bowler, struck a six from the second delivery.

Glass took a single from the third ball and McDowell, who had earlier been struck for five successive sixes in an over from Taiaroa, hit the winning single to prompt delirious celebrations in the visiting camp.

Heaven knows how Taiaroa and Holmes felt after their 284-run stand in just 36 overs for the second wicket appeared to have sent Carrick on the path to a badly-needed first league victory of the season.

The New Zealand born pair were in majestic form but it was in role reversal from what you might have expected. Taiaroa is regarded more as an accumulator of runs than a dashing batsman but his statistics were startling. After taking 75 balls to reach 50 and 116 to reach three figures, he pressed the foot firmly on the accelerator and more, hitting 30 from the 46th over from McDowell. In total he struck nine fours and 14 sixes.

Taiaroa finished with an unbeaten 176 from just 143 balls and at one stage he struck nine sixes in the space of 15 balls.

Holmes, normally the more belligerent of the pair, was slightly more restrained, his 136 coming from 129 balls and including 17 fours and two sixes. Carrick’s most prolific period came between the 41st and 46th overs, when 92 runs were hit.

Ballymena have a reputation as a team who never know when they are beaten and that analogy rang true here. James Kennedy and Robert McKinley (34) compiled a century opening stand, but at the halfway stage they were still a long way off the asking rate. Kennedy hit 11 fours and three sixes with his century coming in just 95 balls.

Kaushik Aphale, the Indian professional, gave the innings a much-needed injection of pace with 59 including five fours and two sixes and David Kennedy (32), Andy Kirkpatrick (26) and Steve Lazars (27) all got in on the act as Ballymena closed in on a truly memorable victory.

Ballymena, after losing their opening three matches, are now sitting comfortably with two victories from five. Carrick though remain joint bottom with Lisburn, after losing all five of their opening games. Lisburn have no victories from four games with the two due to meet at Wallace Park next Sunday. Perhaps fatally for Carrick, former captain Ryan Eagleson will miss much of the rest of the season because of his coaching role with Ireland under-19s.