Halstead Cricket Club coach Phil Toogood was pleased that their players showed the steel they needed to end a run of defeats in Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division one.

Having won their opening game of the season, Halstead had been disappointed not to have taken more from their subsequent five outings, however, they brought that sequence to a close with a morale-boosting 12-run win against Mistley.

And Toogood was delighted to see them get rewarded for their good play this time in a fixture against a side close to them in the division one standings.

“This was a must win game for us and it turned out to be a true nail-biter,” said Toogood.

“After losing two top order batsman for just 20, Oli Grayson, Dylan Verreynne, Mark Johnson and Harry Veal applied themselves and batted sensibly, attacking the bad balls.

“We then lost key wickets at a bad time, however, our last two batsmen added 22 vitally important and, what turned out to be, match-winning runs.

“With a total of 220 on a very good wicket we were going to have to bowl a disciplined line and length.

“I said at half-time that we needed to be patient but as long as we bowled in the right areas and continued fielding to the levels we had shown in previous matches we stood a great chance.

“I also asked for the team to show some passion, spirit and steel. It was time to stop this losing run we were on.

“After the first ten to 12 overs, I wondered if the team had heard my words as we bowled with no control and our opponents cruised to 50 without losing a wicket.

“We have been short of luck this season but when their ace batsman dragged on a wide ball from Verreynne, things changed.

“Dylan and Charlie Douglas-Hughes then reduced Mistley to five wickets down with little over 100 on the board “The game changed once again when their lower order started to wag giving them another chance to win.

“Harry Veal and Joe Morris proceeded to knock over the tail, though, with the help of an outstanding catch by Josh Wells and that was it – we won the game with two minutes to spare before the cut-off time.

“In truth we have played better cricket this season and lost but the team showed that steel that I asked for and that desire to get over us over the line.”

Halstead are due to head to Maldon today.