Belmont & Edgware registered their first victory of the season following an excellent all-round performance against Oakhill CC.

After a long journey to commuter-belt Kent, skipper Adam Jacobs won the toss and decided to bat first on a seemingly good wicket with a fast, if scrub-like, outfield.

In Elliott Mayer's absence, James Brilliant was sent out to bat with regular opener Phil Mayer. Although the scoring rate was initially slow, the pair saw off Oakhill's pacey opening bowlers on a bouncy surface.

Just as BECC looked comfortable, however, Brilliant fell, chasing a widish delivery after he had driven for four the previous ball.

Jacobs replaced him but soon departed after he hammered a full toss straight back past the bowler which didn't quite clear mid-off, who took a very good, reaction catch. Braham soon followed, driving straight down cover's throat.

Suddenly, after seeming well-set, Belmont once again were teetering on the brink of a collapse. This seemed even more likely after no. 5 Wetton somehow contrived to spoon a catch to the wicketkeeper off the back of his bat after attempting to leave the ball to leave Belmont on 42-4.

However, cometh the moment, cometh the man, in Nick McLeod. Having propped up Belmont's innings on a few occasions already this season, he once again came to the rescue. After giving himself a few balls to get his eye in, he dealt mainly in boundaries. In one particularly impressive over he took one of Oakhill's quicker bowlers apart, plundering 16 runs - all boundaries).

Mayer continued defiantly at the other end, ensuring the scoreboard kept ticking over nicely. He chipped in with the odd four himself. The pair added 59 in just nine overs before Mayer perished for 49 after middling an off-drive straight to cover.

Ellis Tuhrim maintained the momentum by rotating the strike nicely before McLeod finally fell attempting one big shot too many. That was not, though, before he had scored a highly entertaining 51 and put Belmont firmly back in the game.

Following Nick's departure, it became vital that Belmont saw out the full 35 overs. Although this didn't quite happen, the lower order showed admirable resolve to take Belmont up to a competitive total, notwithstanding another misunderstanding between Mendel and Tilley which probably cost Belmont 10-15 runs. That said, given their earlier position, Belmont were happy to post a defendable target of 160.

Belmont's fielding effort literally could not have got off to a better start when opening bowler Joe Saleh dismissed Oakhill's opener for a diamond duck. Plugging away at the other end, Jacobs kept things tight, but Saleh delivered another blow when he bowler the other, dangerous-looking, opener with a back of a length delivery which didn't quite rear up as much as one would have expected.

This left BECC in a commanding position, but they were then frustrated by a slow but steady third wicket partnership. In an effort to break this, Jacobs introduced leg-spinner Jack Mendel into the attack. He didn't disappoint and carried on from where he left off from last week when he struck in his first over.

Consistently pitching the ball up and extracting heavy turn, he caused Oakhill's middle-order all manner of problems and was rewarded with a further two wickets, ending up with match figures of 3-24 off his seven overs. He was assisted by Stephen Berlofsky, who applied pressure at the other end with his accurate slow left arm.

As the run rate started to escalate, Oakhill needed to take increasing risks. This resulted in a run out, after a sharp piece of fielding by Stephen Berlofsky. He then turned wicket-taker, after pegging back the off-stump of the no. 9 batsman to end another potentially problematic partnership before Tilley finally removed the opposition's barnacle like no.3.

That only left Oakhill's no.11, who hit one lovely leg side flick to square leg but was soon run out after he was called through for a run off the last ball of the 31st over that was never there.

This was a morale-boosting first victory of the season after a couple near misses in recent weeks and skipper Jacobs hopes will herald the start of a new run.