A six off the final ball snatched victory away from High Easter and left them tied for the second time this season.
Playing away to Rayleigh in the Third Division of the Mid Essex Cricket League, they have looked in a good place at bottom of the table Rayleigh until the late drama.
It leaves them fourth in the standings with two games to go in the 2025 campaign.
Rayleigh skipper Richard Nolde won the toss and sent the visitors into bat who promptly lost Henry Brisland for just five.
Jon Norgrove started to shore things up though, with his 76 containing 14 fours.
However, he had help from Waseem Abbasi who hit another ton as he reached 120 from 99 balls, 17 of them going for four and three for six.
It meant a second-wicket partnership of 174 and the runs kept flowing down the order too, with 42 not out from Matt Green and 15* for Steve Hills, all part of a total of 290-4 in their 45 overs.
Rayleigh set about the run chase with James Balkwill (48), Nolde (51) and Balamurugan Rajogopal (38) all scoring well at the top of the order.
Two quick wickets pumped the brakes slightly to put them on 155-5 in the 27th over but the lower order played well too.
They got to the final over with Sam Skillett on strike and 15 still needed to win.
The first went for six but the next three were dots and with only two on the penultimate delivery, it meant Rayleigh needed a six just to tie.
However, Skillett did just that to finish on 54 not out in the 39 deliveries he faced and Rayleigh on 290-8.
All five of the High Easter bowlers played well with Nick Gliddon (2-62), Brisland (2-49) and Mayur Chavda (2-53) the best of them.
Wicket-keeper Norgrove held three catches.
High Easter play their final home game of the league season on Saturday against Brookweald.
The first match between the two in June had also ended in a tied result.
Basildon & Pitsea claimed the Premier Division title with an 81-run success at home to High Roding.
That pushed Roding to third.
Basildon won the toss and elected to bat and were not exactly racing away with things at 124-6.
But the later batsmen then put on a stirring show to finish on 233 all out.
For Roding Alex Haines took 3-44 and Freddie Knightley 3-58 but they never really kept pace with the run rate with 41 the top score from Josh O’Connor.
They were eventually all out for 152 in the 41st over.
The thirds also came out second best when they lost at home to Bancroft Lions.
They had batted first and amassed 226 with Mahon Shah (41), Andy Duke (39) and Tom Shrager (35) their top scorers.
But Bancroft passed the winning total with just the loss of four wickets.
The seconds won though beating Galleywood by nine wickets at The Meadow.
Harry Pilcher took 3-37 and Mukarram Shamim 3-18 as the visitors were all out for 137, and then 58 for Pilcher and 48 not out from Zaheer Abbas eased them to victory.
Share