Captain Matt Spatcher called correctly and decided to bat first, and had a decent knock of 61, putting on 89 for the first wicket with Darren Hutchison (38) inside 15 overs.

Other good contributions from Amit Gupta (43) and Paul Cooper (48) saw the away side well placed for a big total at 207- 3 before an all-too-familiar collapse saw the team slide to 211-8.

An unbroken stand of 43 between Charlie Douglas-Hughes (13) and David Elsbury (26) pushed the total up to 254-8 in the 50 overs.

In reply Wivenhoe lost early wickets, with Tom Philp taking three, and with conditions favouring spin, Douglas-Hughes (2-38) and Elsbury (3-47) bowled in tandem to keep Halstead on top.

The victory was finally wrapped up in the last over with Wivenhoe all out for 164, and ensured a 20-point haul for the visitors.

David Elsbury continued his rich vein of form with bat and ball, and with Charlie Douglas-Hughes back from university the bowling department seems in good hands.

No doubt Spatcher will be expecting greater things from his middle order batsmen in future games if they want to make a charge in the second part of the season.

Halstead

M Spatcher c Stowe b Harwood61

D Hutchinson lbw b Green38

A Gupta c Durrell b Green43

P Cooper c Stacey b Tompkinson48

C Barton c Morgan b Tomkinson16

S Steel C De Wet b Tompkinson0

C Douglas-Hughes not out13

A Pyman c Durrell b Green1

G Cook (jnr) run out1

D Elsbury not out26

extras7

Total (for 8 wkts)254

Bowling: P Tomkinson 10-1-55-3; A Green 16-4-42-3; R Harwood 5-0-50-1.

Wivenhoe

M Durrell c Douglas-Hughes b Steel11

G Dunstan c Steel b Elsbury27

R Stacey lbw b Philp1

H De Wet b Philp20

O Morgan b Douglas-Hughes14

R Pulford b Douglas-Hughes6

P Tomkinson lbw b Philp28

T Durrell st Pyman b Elsbury0

A Green c Steel b Elsbury24

S Stowe not out18

R Harwood st Pyman b Gupta5

extras10

Total (all out)164

Bowling: A Gupta 2-0-14-1; S Steel 6-0-32-1; C Douglas-Hughes 13-3-38-2; D Elsbury 16-2-47-3; T Philp 12-2-27-3.

Halstead Seconds entertained in-form Dunmow in division four at Star Stile on Saturday. The visitors first knock and posted a challenging score of 239-7.

On a good, flat wicket they saw off the opening attack after the early success of Rose, bowling ex-Halstead player Peacock for 16 runs.

However O Rooney (45) and A Stothard (80) put Dunmow in a position of strength for the final onslaught.

C Langford (26 not out) and P Reid (54) made hay in the gathering heat of the afternoon despite Mark Surridge and Chris Roper taking three wickets each.

Halstead got off to a good start in the run chase with the the first six batsmen all getting in to double figures. Main contributors were Paul Harris (19), Justin Rose (28) Sam Burrett (21) and Mark Johnson (21), and an entertaining knock of 35 from Chris Rayner.