CAPTAIN Josh Wells feels Halstead Cricket Club are getting towards a place where they have strived to be over the last few years.

A buoyant Halstead are riding high in the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division one table after a strong start to the season and are second following their six-wicket win at Frinton seconds last weekend.

They will be hoping to make it four top-flight wins in a row when they host fellow high fliers Woolpit, who are third and level on points with Halstead, on Saturday and Wells knows his players will head into the game with confidence after a dominant display at Frinton.

The Halstead skipper said: "It was a good result (at Frinton) and probably our most complete performance so far.

"We won the toss and decided to bowl as we thought the wicket would give a bit of help early on.

"Myself and Ed (Clark) kept it tight and picked up a couple of early wickets and although they pushed on and had a partnership in the middle of the order, once that was broken, we restricted them to 162.

"We were really pleased with that on what we felt was a good pitch and an outfield that was getting quicker as well.

"At the start of our chase we got into a bit of a tricky situation, but myself and Charlie (Douglas-Hughes) settled it down and then Charlie Spooner came in with some big-hitting at the end to see us over the line.

"I think the way we handled the run chase shows how we're developing - we would have lost that game two or three seasons ago as we have lost chases like that in the past.

"But there is a different feeling about us now.

"We are difficult to beat and we have been striving for that for a while.

"We have a positive mindset and we are now going into games knowing a team has to play well to beat us."

Wells said he expected Graham Wickes to be unavailable for the game against Woolpit and with the visitors also having started the season well, he felt it would be an acid test of his own team's current situation..

He added: "We have a more difficult run coming up looking at the table and where the teams are who we have to face, but we are looking strong and it's going to be interesting to see exactly where we are."