HIS team may now be top of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division two table, but Braintree Cricket Club skipper Louis Cant insists that nothing must change for his title-chasing side.

Braintree held firm in a tense run chase to beat Kesgrave by four wickets last weekend and that fifth straight win moved them to the summit ahead of a trip to Little Bardfield on Saturday.

But now his team are the front-runners, Cant says they must approach games in the same way that has brought them success so far.

He said: "We keep playing our game, stay aggressive with our plans and trust each other’s ability to win games.

"I feel that we slightly underestimated Kesgrave last week and expected an easy win.

"We got away with it though and need to make sure we learn from it and don’t put ourselves in that position again."

"This win just reiterates to me that we are really gelling this year as a group and every win is helping us gain momentum and confidence."

Cant felt losing the toss was a big moment against Kesgrave, but despite it not being a great performance from some of the Braintree batsmen, the skipper was glad that he and particularly Dean Bass were able to get them over the line.

"I think it was a big toss to win for Kesgrave," Cant added.

"If we had won, I’m pretty sure we would have won a lot more comfortably.

"Our opening bowlers showed great determination to keep steaming in, especially in that heat.

"We missed a couple of chances and their batsmen had some luck, but we kept plugging away and our spinners managed to start taking regular wickets to finish them off, with a score that was way below par for Panfield Lane.

"There was definitely some complacency and poor decision making from our top order, but once again, when some of our players didn’t have a good day we had others who were ready to back them up.

"Personally, it was a great feeling for me to be involved in the match-winning partnership with Dean Bass, who batted out of his skin.

"We regrouped, had a plan and stuck to it.

"But in all honesty, we bat all the way down to eleven and I never really had too many doubts about winning the game, chasing such a low total."

Cant said Braintree had a few injury and illness doubts for the trip to Little Bardfield, but Barry Stephens was coming back to fitness after a calf problem.

He said: We have a couple of injuries and illnesses that we are waiting for a final decision on, but we have a very strong side again, with both bat and ball.

"Barry is not available this week, but we expect he will be back training next week and we’ll make a decision from there."