Hitchin kept their promotion hopes alive with a dramatic late win against Luton Town and Indians at Wardown Park. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Hitchin had to come to terms with an old turning wicket and 50 overs of spin from the home side.

Hitchin kept their promotion hopes alive with a dramatic late win against Luton Town and Indians at Wardown Park.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Hitchin had to come to terms with an old turning wicket and 50 overs of spin from the home side.

Patience was the name of the game as the Lucas Laners aimed to keep wickets in hand and play out their overs.

Andy Hicks made a good 44 and Will Pugh supported him well for 25 as Hitchin ended their innings on 166-9.

The home side were in control at 53-0 in reply but with the first introduction of spin from Pugh, Hitchin came back into the game as he bowled Jeremy Page (29) around his legs and got Ali Mahmood caught sweeping by Andy Beaton.

Then Dave Moore claimed two caught behinds and a caught and bowled and Luton were now in trouble at 82-5.

A quickfire 43 from Khan then took Luton up to needing 43 from seven overs.

Moore claimed two wickets in an over, including clean bowling Khan, and Luton decided to try and block out for the draw.

With eight balls left and two wickets still needed, Hicks' leg spin struck as the Luton skipper was caught behind by Oliver Hammond.

It was left to Hitchin skipper Moore to bowl the last over of the game and with two balls to spare he bowled the tailender with a slower ball to win his side the game and finish with figures of 6-43.

There was another batting collapse for the seconds, this time against Leverstock Green 2nds at Lucas Lane.

They went down by 121 runs in Division Six, and now lie just one spot off the bottom of the table.

Hitchin had reached 91-2 before eight wickets fell for just 29 runs as they fell apart for 120 in pursuit of 241.

Earlier they had lost the toss and found themselves in the field but struggled to make any kind of inroads into the Leverstock Green batting line-up, Richard Walker scoring 100no.

Ian Goddard and Chris Slack took two wickets apiece, Slack aided by a superb diving one handed catch by Gavin Bidgood.

After tea, Hitchin got off to a good start with Richard Middleditch and Charlie Sparks reaching 43 without loss.

Middleditch made 24 before he was adjudged leg before while sweeping and Alex Stoner was out cheaply.

This brought youngsters Jonny Gray and Sparks together and they added 44 for the third wicket before Gray fell for 16.

Hitchin then collapsed, with Sparks scoring his best score for Hitchin in making 42, and only Dave Llewellyn, in his last game for the club, providing any other resistance with 13.