APPROACHING the halfway mark, Brook have now reeled off ten consecutive wins in their quest to reach the I’Anson top flight.

Badshot Lea, third in Division Two, opted to bat first at the former Surrey Championship club’s beautiful ground, but never managed a decent partnership against the four bowlers used. Alex Johns and Oli Eccles both took a wicket in tidy opening spells, and then it was over to change-bowlers Toby Johns (12-6-18-4) and Jon King (9-3-24-4) with left-arm wrist spin and right-arm finger spin respectively.

They worked their way through the batting and with only opener Aryobi and Joe Pantony reaching double figures, Badshot Lea were left to defend a modest total of 93.

It was never going to be enough and after a brisk start by openers Tom Williams (20) and Charlie Warburton, the watchful pair of Toby Pheasant (20 not out) and Paul Challinor (18) punished the bad ball and soon put the game to bed.

Frensham II, strengthened by five first-teamers, won by three wickets at Shalford in a battle to avoid being caught up in the league restructuring. On what looked a good batting track, Shalford collapsed to 70-5 and it needed another steely innings from opener Peter Unsworth to guide the home side to a decent total.

The tail wagged and 22 runs came from the final over, with Oliver Rowe hitting two sixes and a four. The rock-like Unsworth was still there, 84 not out, when Shalford closed on a competitive 193-8 from 48 overs.

Frensham had a fight on their hands after losing their openers to Juan Vorster with less than 20 runs on the board. Thereafter, the batsmen got to grips with the situation and scored steadily through James Wood (39) and Nick Green (37). Wicketkeeper Ben Harrison led an onslaught in the last five overs and he and Tim Knight saw Frensham home in a very tight finish, the winning runs coming with only a ball to spare.

Skipper Liam Gadd led from the front with superb 109 as Tongham, after a shaky start, amassed 234-9 at Elstead. Tyler Carrington (51) joined him in an excellent partnership against some accurate Elstead bowling.

Tongham left themselves 42 overs to bowl out the home side and Nick Cook quickly made inroads into the top order. However, Max Holland played another excellent innings for his side. He made 74 and shared a match-saving stand with Moisin Ahmed (41 not out). An unbroken partnership between Moisin and Malik saw Elstead to safety at 166-6.

The Bourne must have been hopeful of a much-needed win after dismissing Thursley for 164 in 41 overs. Ed Garett did the early damage, finishing with 4-21 from 10 overs, and Mark Budd picked up 3-28 in 10. Derek Agge (46) and Rob Williams (32) put up spirited resistance and then the late-order pair of Aleem Fazal and Liam Larby (27) added important runs.

Bourne cruised to 45-0 in reply, but it all went wrong once Agge had dismissed Russ Cole. Keith Tilson took two expensive, but vital wickets and then Larby roared in to destroy the home side with 7-53 in 10.2 overs. Cole and Joe Morse made 26 apiece, but Bourne crashed to 128 all out in the 28th over.

Harting continued their up-and-down season with a heavy defeat away to Grayshott II. Invited to bat, Grayshott piled up the runs. Opener Matt Jackson struck 13 boundaries in his 74 and skipper Luke McBain also made 74 as the Harting bowlers suffered in the sun. David Eeles (45) and Harrison Ward (25) then saw Grayshott to a formidable 259-7 at the hallway mark.

Grayshott dismissed Simon Kyte and Terry Wadey, Harting’s key batsmen, relatively cheaply and that opened the way for Andy Lang to break the back of the innings by taking 5-34. Chris Brophy picked up 3-24, while Jack Moseley recorded the remarkable figures of 10-6-9-2. Harting were all out for 84 in the 39th over.