Braintree Cricket Club captain Will Jackson says his players are working hard to get the runs they know they will need to stay in division one of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship this year.

Having come up as division two champions last summer, life back in the top flight has proved tough for Braintree and last weekend’s seven-wicket defeat by Frinton seconds was their third in a row as they still search for their first win of the season.

Jackson said their loss at Ashlyns Road came about mainly because they didn’t post a big enough score with the bat and said that has been a problem this year.

However, he added that the Braintree players are working hard to remedy that.

“It was a tough result, but we just didn’t get enough runs on the board,” said Jackson, who isn’t playing at the moment due to a broken wrist.

“That’s been an issue this season where we’ve had one or two getting in but then seen wickets fall at crucial times.

“We haven’t been posting scores that the bowlers can defend and Saturday was another case of that.

“The hardest part of it is getting in, but when you get past that and into the 40s, you have to turn that into a match-winning score and that’s what I’m asking the guys to do.

“We are facing better bowling and better fielding in this division as it is a step up, but we are working hard to make it click. The players did well last year and it’s about the guys really stepping up now.

“We are training hard and netting extra to make sure we can do that so we are really pushing and hopefully it will click against Witham on Saturday.”

Warren Celiz top-scored for Braintree at Frinton, with 44, but the team’s collective total was only 140 for nine and the hosts made it past their target inside 28 overs.