Unbeaten Southampton Rangers won a nailbiter for the second straight weekend when Vernon Eve and Sheldon Caesar put on 15 for the last wicket to guide the league leaders to a last-ball victory.

Chasing 232 for eight, Rangers had a slow start, gained momentum in the middle of the innings when they looked like winning with overs to spare, only to slump from 169 for four to 218 for nine before pulling off an unexpected victory.

Last weekend Rangers beat Bailey’s Bay by ten runs in a low-scoring match at Southampton Oval.

Justin Corday almost won the match for the home team with two brilliant catches at short mid-wicket and short extra cover in successive overs to remove Janeiro Tucker for 78 and then Hasan Durham to a diving catch. However, a sharp chance put down by Jordan DeSilva on the third ball of the last over from an Eve cover drive proved decisive as Rangers were let off the hook with four runs needed for victory.

Rangers entered that last over by Justin Donawa needing five runs for victory, with Caesar scoring a single to get Eve on strike and then two runs coming off the missed catch by DeSilva, which was firmly struck by Eve. Another single left Caesar needing one run to win the game off the final ball, which he accomplished with a leg bye out to backward point.

Tucker played a captain’s innings, coming to the crease in the seventeenth over at 49 for three after Oronde Bascome, Curtis Jackson and Dion Stovell all went cheaply. The openers departed in the third and fourth overs when Greg Maybury bowled Jackson and Joshua Gilbert bowled Bascome with only 15 on the board.

Tucker and Alex Dore shared in a vital century stand, adding 122 in 21 overs before Dore departed for a well-played 62. It was the breakthrough Somerset needed as they began to turn the match around after that with two wickets in the 39th over off Greg Maybury’s bowling.

First, the pace bowler removed Derrick Brangman to the rarest of dismissal — a run out when he tried to stop a straight drive and deflected the ball onto the stumps with Brangman out of his crease — before Armstrong was trapped lbw in the same over.

An equally brilliant one-handed overhead catch by Kamel Easton on the long-off boundary removed Shannon Raynor from Justin Donawa as the match hung in the balance at 189 for seven and key man Tucker still at the crease. He and Hasan Durham added 25 for the eighth wicket before Tucker’s flick off his toes produced an outstanding catch by Corday to set up the exciting finish with 18 still needed off the last four overs.

Three Somerset bowlers took two wickets, with DeSilva giving up 21 runs in his eight overs, while Donawa had figures of two for 42 from ten and Greg Maybury two for 55 from ten.

Earlier DeSilva led the Somerset batting with 70 not out at No 5 as the home team posted a challenging target thanks to DeSilva and No 9 bat Marcus Johnson who smashed 51 as the pair carried the score from 141 for eight to 227 for nine when Johnson was run out in the final over. DeSilva’s innings lasted 108 balls and included five fours as he helped Somerset recover from 22 for three, adding 43 for the fourth wicket with captain Jekon Edness.

Derrick Brangman was the pick of the Rangers bowlers with four for 36 from ten overs.

n Southampton’s match with Willow Cuts on Saturday was not played because of the funeral of Janeiro Tucker’s aunt, Patricia Atkins. Rangers were also without four players who were playing in the Eastern Counties.