By Trevor Partridge

BRAINTREE Cricket Club held their nerve to defeat Mildenhall by five wickets in a heated Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division two fixture.

In doing so, Braintree leapt to top spot in the league as both of the sides above them - Haverhill and Lakenheath - suffered defeats.

Mildenhall won the toss and elected to bat first however they were soon in trouble as Braintree’s seam attacked ripped into their top order.

Ben Curran (19) and Ryan Clark (8) both edged deliveries from Will Jackson and Robbie Splading respectively into Warren Celiz’s gloves.

When Adam Trett (4) presented Jackson a simple catch off Spalding’s bowling, Mildenhall had been reduced to 35 for three.

However Steve Graham and Matt Allen saw off the seamers and then took great delight in taking on Barry Stephens and Dean Bass in putting on 149 runs for the fourth wicket.

Graham reached his century with a number of impressive shots, but Stephens tempted him into a lofted shot and Dan Garner took a comfortable catch.

Jordan Francis had scored just a single before driving a delivery from Bass straight into Jackson’s hands and the very next ball after scoring 59, Matt Baker was trapped in his crease and adjudged LBW.

Jackson was brought back into the attack and immediately removed the stumps of Kieran Davis (18) and Jack Bowman (0) with consectutive deliveries and in his next over, he had Gaybe Jones caught by Garner for 17.

Tom Heywood (10) and Adam Cruickshank (7) remained undefeated as Mildenhall posted 260 off their 45 overs.

In reply, Braintree got off to their usual quick start, however after scoring 20, Celiz got the finest of edges and walked before the umpire could make a decision.

Chris Leech and Dan Chalk gave the perfect response to the loss of the first wicket as they put on an impressive 158 runs for the second.

Mildenhall’s bowling became wayward as they bowled 11 no balls and ten wides to effectively give Braintree an extra three and half overs to reach the required target.

Eventually Chalk gave Clark his second catch after an innings of 79 that had included eight fours and four sixes.

Jackson made a quick 13 before being clean bowled, while Bass lasted just two balls as he was caught on the boundary ropes.

Leech continued to punish the bowling with a series of boundaries, but, when on 99, he clipped a ball to mid-wicket missing out on the century his innings so richly deserved.

His knock contained 12 fours and a six.

With Garner and Stephens now at the crease, Braintree still required 22 runs for victory off the final four overs.

The pair sensibly pushed singles with some ease as the opposition decided to protect the boundary and the cause was helped as another wayward delivery from Allen went for four byes, before Stephens guided a ball over the ropes to level the scores.

Garner pushed a single off the first ball of the final over as Braintree reached their target with five wickets in hand and five balls to spare.

On Saturday, Braintree visit Sudbury looking to continue their impressive run of victories to cement their position at the top of the league.