OTs & Romsey pulled off a dramatic one-wicket penultimate ball win over Langley Manor to secure Southern Electric Premier Division 2 safety.

Chasing down Langley’s 196-8, they looked in danger of losing when last man Max Smith joined Charlie King with OTs tottering at 179-9.

But Smith’s vast experience – he opened for many years in SPL cricket and has thousands of league runs on his CV – and King’s 43 not out got OTs across the line.

Manor’s 196-9 was built around Jack Budd (33), Stevie Harris (32) and Andrew Tull (32), with Alan Smith (22) and James Brown (23) adding useful runs towards the end.

OTs slipped to 53-4 against Morgan (2-33) and Simon Peters (2-35), but King and Will Edwards (45) put them in the driving seat at 135-4.

With Graham Noble taking 3-31, the Manor nibbled away and when Smith joined King 21 runs were still required.

But the pair squeezed out the runs OTs needed for a one-wicket win that should guarantee safety.

That’s not the case with Sparsholt, who are tottering on the brink of the drop zone after a seven-wicket beating by Paultons.

Stuart Tognarelli smacked 106 and Dan Payne (56) to guide Sparsholt to 247-6.

But Sparsholt’s bowlers were unable to contain the Paultons batsmen – Chris Ray (67), Dean White (65) and Tony Richman (30) improving on the start John Robinson (41) provided.