A TRICKY batting surface resulted in a low scoring but by no means unexciting match as Brooklands Cricket Club's first XI hosted Mobberley in the Cheshire County Cricket League Division Two.

Skipper Jack Bagshaw won his second consecutive toss and elected to put Mobberley in to bat on a cold and grey afternoon and it was not long before former skipper AJ Hart struck.

The very first over, in fact, saw Mobberley opener Ben Leigh (nought) nibble at one outside off stump with Kevin Carroll taking the catch in the slips low to his left.

Mobberley quickly adapted to the difficult conditions and dug in with other opener Will Berisford-Ince (13) and Mark Goodstadt (18) putting up some resistance before Hart (2-14) removed Goodstadt lbw and first-change bowler Rob Leach (2-12) got Berisford-Ince caught in the slips by Christian Hart.

Youngster George Foreman (1-21) continued to pick up wickets during his six-over cameo, clean bowling Abdul Aqeel before he had time to turn his dangerous-looking 15 into something more substantial.

It was then down to the slow left arm of Carroll to remove the rest of the Mobberley lower order, all of whom failed to cause the scorers too much trouble.

Carroll notched two lbws and two clean-bowled with the pick of his wickets being an audacious close catch by Alex Edwards at short leg.

With just 39 overs gone and the visitors all out, the Bears were looking to make short work of their target of just 77.

However, the home team's innings appeared to mirror that of the away side as Bagshaw fell early for only one run.

Chris Hart (17) and Kevin Carroll (14) steadied the ship with the pair scoring three of the five boundaries in the whole innings before falling victim to Mobberley's overseas seamer Hank Schlaghecke (4-35).

Camped out at the other end, Aqeel (4-35) picked up the wickets of Alex Edwards, AJ Hart, Ali Buchan and Sam Higgins – all of whom failed to make it into double figures.

Calm heads and sensible batting was required, which is exactly what Caleb Jones (10 not out) and Foreman (five) provided as the pair edged the home team run by run towards their goal.

With Foreman caught behind after he was tempted by a short and wide delivery from the tiring Schlaghecke, Rob Leach joined Jones at the crease.

Leach looked cool and assured as he battled to 13no from 35 balls to give the home team a hard-fought win and another 25 points.

It continued a winning start to the season for the first XI, who travel to third-placed Hale Barns on Saturday.