Once the weather had eased the victors backed their batting with an equally strong bowling display.
Skipper James O'Gorman led the way for St Albans after some early wickets and offered a commanding effort right up until the rain delay.
NTOB had impressed in the last two rounds with strong efforts with the bat but yesterday's effort went completely against that trend.
Their top order crumbled under sustained pressure. Only some late hitting added some spice to the game.
St Albans play second-placed Eastern Suburbs today while the third-placed Texans play winless Manukau City (Northern Districts).
No doubt, St Albans can do NTOB a big favour, provided the latter win their last game before the playoffs tomorrow to decide the 2016 champions.
A calm chase and useful early bowling performance helped Suburbs New Lynn hand Eastern Suburbs their first loss. Easts had been riding high with St Albans as the only unbeaten sides but solid play from the Auckland side ended that run in a rain-impacted encounter.
Suburbs gained an early foothold in the game as their strong bowling duo of Josh Presland and Anas Patel were able to chip out early wickets. That left Easts in a rebuilding phase when rain called their innings early. Suburbs New Lynn through a strong partnership between skipper Michael Barry and Georgie Hanham broke the back of the chase and put their side in a strong position.
It then took a very composed partnership between Jonny Bassett-Graham and Max Montgomery to take them home.
Kaikorai and Manukau were very eager to end their winless runs at the tournament. The match then more than delivered as the two sides pushed eagerly for an opening win. Kaikorai, thanks to a top bowling effort and a range of contributions from their batsmen, came away the better in the rain-shortened match, winning by 13 runs.
Standings: St Albans 12pts, Eastern Suburbs 9, Napier Technical Old Boys 6, Suburbs New Lynn 6, Kaikorai 3, Manukau City 0.
