Daryl Mitchell and Ian Fisher were Worcestershire’s heroes as they claimed a thrilling last ball victory against Essex in their NatWest Pro40 Division One battle at Colchester.

They put together an unbroken partnership of 47 in the final five overs to see the Royals home by three wickets, as they replied to the Eagles’ score of 247 for five.

With Mitchell playing the leading role, 36 of those runs came in the last three overs sent down by Chris Wright and Tim Phillips.

Fisher’s single from Wright’s final delivery carried the visitors to the winning post to settle a thrilling contest.

Mitchell ended with a half-century from 37 balls, an effort containing five fours. He was one of three Worcestershire batsmen to record half centuries the others being Vikram Solanki and Steve Davies, who shared in an opening partnership of 103 in 16 overs.

Davies made 61 from 52 balls with the aid of 10 fours and a six while his captain gathered 62 from as many deliveries.

But once they were separated Worcestershire lost their way somewhat as spinners Phillips and Danish Kaneria made their presence felt.

Between them they captured five wickets and left their side seemingly poised for victory as Worcestershire subsided to 201 for seven — but then Mitchell and Fisher teamed up to produce a thrilling finale.

Earlier James Foster put together an impressive captain’s performance to lead Essex to their total.

Captaining the side in place of the injured Mark Pettini, Foster smashed an unbeaten 52 from only 29 balls, a contribution which contained five fours and two sixes.

He followed it up with a superb piece of stumping which got rid of Davies to end Worcestershire’s fine start.

Thanks largely to Foster, Essex were able to gather 98 from the final 10 overs of their innings. His main accomplice during that time was Phillips who made 21 during an unbeaten stand of 61.

Before they came together Grant Flower gave the innings much needed momentum with 43 from 38 balls while opener Varun Chopra made 62 from 83 deliveries.

His innings included five fours, all of them arriving during the first 22 balls he received.

Chopra was eventually undone by man of the match Mitchell, Davies pulling off a stumping as the batsman moved forward to drive.

Essex were left reflecting on their third defeat in the competition in four outings while their rivals were able to celebrate their second success of the campaign.

l Essex beat Surrey in their LV County Championship division two at Colchester.

Surrey resumed their second innings on six for two on Saturday and required another 111 runs to make Essex bat again.

They chipped away at that initial target, and Mark Ramprakash made 62, however wickets fell at a frequent rate and Danish Kaneria took six wickets as Surrey were all out for 190.

Essex needed 74 for victory and reached their target for the loss of just one wicket, with Tom Westley finishing unbeaten on 45.