Bessborough’s long wait for another Middlesex County Cricket League victory stretched to seven weeks as they rescued a losing draw at home to South Hampstead on Saturday.

The visitors put up an imposing 266 all out with all of the top five batsmen getting starts and two of them – Shrutarth Rajani (52) and Sacha Duran (58) – bagging half-centuries.

The wickets were shared between the Borough spin trio of Nitin Modha (three for 31), Sherrick Chavda (three for 87) and Rohan Karkhanis (two for 28). In reply, Bessborough were struggling to score at anything like the required run-rate, reaching 64 for two after 20 overs.

That apparent serenity was blown away by a devastating three-over spell which reduced Bessborough to 65 for six with more than half the innings overs still to come.

Chavda (29) and Gihan Pallage (9) stopped the rot for ten overs before the latter holed out.

Skipper Karkhanis stuck around until the 40th over before he was out caught, while Chavda finally succumbed in the 47th.

Fortunately, last pair Sharuban Kanthasamy (2 not out) and Modha (7 not out) were able to survive the remaining 23 balls to secure the point.