Two run outs and a stumping in the space of six dramatic balls saw Hitchin fall nine runs short of a desperately needed victory at Broxbourne on Saturday.

At 164-7 and chasing 175 to win with 15 balls remaining Steve Flint’s men looked on track for a hard-fought win, but Charlie Wood-Jones was controversially run out and the tail quickly followed leaving Luke Day stranded on 26.

Having lost the toss and been asked to field on a scorching day Hitchin turned in a disciplined performance to restrict the home team to a below-par score of 174-9.

Mohammed Yaseen gave his side the perfect start bowling Anubhav Thapa first ball of the match with his trademark in-swinging delivery.

Two further wickets for Yaseen left Broxbourne in big trouble at 24-3 but a painstaking season’s best of 64 from James Gruijters, a counter-attacking 42 from Chris Sargent and a late flurry by Liam Robinson (32*) allowed the home team to set a defendable target of 175.

Yaseen bowled superbly to finish with 3-22 from his eight overs and he was well-supported by Shaftab Khalid (2-31), Dave Moore (1-29), Farrukh Chodhry (1-16) and Ben Hankin (1-23).

Khalid got the chase off to a flying start smashing consecutive boundaries off Anthony Rhodes, and after the loss of fellow opener Simon Bayston he batted well in tandem with Saad Waqas to take the score past 50.

But the introduction of spinner Robinson paid immediate dividends as Khalid was bowled for 37 and Waqas was frustrated into playing a rash shot which saw him caught at mid-off for 26 (71-3).

The middle order batted sensibly, edging towards the target, but no-one managed to take full control as Conor Ridley (3-20) kept breaking partnerships.

Flint and Day’s partnership of 32 put Hitchin back in the driving seat at 135-6 but the departure of Flint for 20 put the game back in the balance.

And just as Day and Wood-Jones looked to have the visitors back in control in this see-saw match the latter (nine) was stunned to be given a run out after his full length dive appeared to have taken him home.

With 11 runs needed from the final 15 balls Hitchin were still marginal favourites as Day was going well with 24 to his name, but a frenetic penultimate over saw Yaseen stumped and Hankin run out – both for ducks – as Broxbourne took the victory by eight runs.