Luke Hollman kept his nerve where others had lost theirs with an all-round performance to carry Middlesex to a four-wicket victory, only their second in the Vitality Blast this season, in a low-scoring thriller at Chelmsford.

The left-handed bat slammed the winning six with an over to spare to finish 32 not out after ripping the middle from the Essex batting with 4 for 21 from an excellent spell of spin bowling. Not that anything is easy for a Middlesex team who had lost seven of their previous eight games and propped up the table.

Essex had seemingly been down and out when their eighth wicket fell in the 15th over with just 69 on the board. But a record, unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 73 in five overs more than doubled the total to 142 with Simon Harmer leading the way with a career-best 56 not out from 28 balls with three sixes and six fours. Mackenzie Jones kept him company with a six in his 19 not out, but ultimately it was not enough.

Essex, put in on a pitch with plenty of grass on it, were quickly in trouble, losing three wickets in the powerplay at which time they only had 33 on the board. Michael Pepper was yorked by a peach from Naavya Sharma, who also accounted for Paul Walter, caught on mid-on after striking four of the five boundaries scored in those first six overs.

In between, Essex lost Jordan Cox, released for the day from England duty, who was caught off a steepler over his shoulder at long-off by Tom Helm. If that was bad, worse was to come before the grand finale. Charlie Allison became bogged down before holing out to long-on as Essex limped to 54 for 4 at halfway.

Josh De Caires held a spectacular diving catch on the square-leg rope to remove Luc Benkenstein, and then Hollman struck twice in three balls to have both Matt Critchley and Shane Snater caught behind. Boyle had Zaman Akhter stumped before Harmer stepped up to the plate with his second knock of controlled aggression this weekend.

In the chase, Middlesex lost Matt Boyle early to another spectacular over-the-shoulder catch at long-off by Jones, who also held on to dismiss Max Holden. They did manage to reach the end of the powerplay on 46 for 2. But in the next over, De Caires cut Harmer to gully and five runs later Ben Geddes lost his middle stump to the South African offspinner.

Leus du Plooy looked to have calmed the jitters with consecutive swept sixes off Critchley, but fell next ball when nicking a wide ball to the wicketkeeper. Joe Cracknell and Hollman put on 52 from 44 balls to inch Middlesex closer to their target before Hollman launched Akhter over mid-off.