Ryan ten Doeschate lifted Essex to the heights of a tie by scoring 12 runs - a six, a four and a two - off the final three balls from Dillon du Preez. Those blows took him to 99 not out, with eight fours and three sixes, off 66 balls.

Ten Doeschate came to the wicket with Essex 99 for five and turned round his side's fortunes, initially with the help of Jason Gallian, who made 63 from 76 balls.

Leicestershire have struggled for runs this season, but they launched their penultimate Pro40 campaign in style with Matthew Boyce, Paul Nixon and Boeta Dippenaar each hitting half-centuries, with Boyce, 22, a product of Oakham School, making his highest one-day score of 59, with ten fours from 65 balls in a total of 255 for six. Leicestershire scored 93 runs from the final ten overs, which Essex later matched. despite Graham Napier proving his mortality in his golden summer when being dismissed second ball for his first duck of the season.

No batsman from Leicestershire's top five has scored a half-century in any of the past four innings in the County Championship, but the three who did so in this game were backed by Jim Allenby making 46. A crucial factor, Ten Doeschate apart, was Daniel Rowe conceding 19 runs in the 35th over.

Scoreboard

Leicestershire
H D Ackerman c Gallian b Chambers 26
M A G Boyce c Napier b Middlebrook 59
H H Dippenaar c Masters b Middlebrook 50
*P A Nixon c Chambers b Kaneria 55
J Allenby lbw b Kaneria 46
D du Preez c Flower b Kaneria 8
T C Smith not out 0
Extras (lb 3, w 6, nb 2) 11

Total (6 wkts, 40 overs) 255

J W A Taylor, C W Henderson, M N Malik and D T Rowe did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-123, 3-159, 4-228, 5-251, 6-255.

Bowling: Napier 4-0-26-0; Masters 8-0-35-0; Chambers 3-0-28-1; Bopara 8-0-58-0; Kaneria 8-0-60-3; Middlebrook 6-0-29-2; Ten Doeschate 3-0-16-0.

Essex
*M L Pettini c Ackerman b Malik 16
J E R Gallian c Ackerman b Henderson 63
G R Napier lbw b Du Preez 0
R S Bopara lbw b Smith 14
G W Flower b Allenby 11
J S Foster lbw b Smith 2
R N ten Doeschate not out 99
J D Middlebrook run out 22
D D Masters run out 11
M A Chambers not out 1
Extras (b 4, lb 4, w 8) 16

Total (8 wkts, 40 overs) 255

Danish Kaneria did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-45, 3-67, 4-94, 5-99, 6-147, 7-208, 8-241.

Bowling: Malik 8-1-42-1; Du Preez 8-1-55-1; Smith 8-0-34-2; Henderson 5-0-37-1; Allenby 7-0-40-1; Rowe 4-0-39-0.

Umpires: R J Bailey and I J Gould.