Opener George Adair’s 85 and 5-64 from Will Roberts couldn’t prevent the early pace-setters from losing by two wickets on Saturday

Hampstead chairman Nick Brown was disappointed to see his team lose on Saturday at home to Twickenham in the Middlesex County League Premier Division, but did credit the performance of their opposition.

The leaders were aiming to secure a fifth victory of the 2018 season, but lost by two wickets after failing to defend 256 at Lymington Road.

Brown did praise the efforts of Twickenham, who came up from Division Two last year, after they secured a first win back in the top flight.

“I have to give credit to Twickenham, they’ve had a tough start to the season, but showed plenty of spirit,” said Hampstead’s chairman.

“They will take confidence from this win and they’re a good club with good people and we’re glad to see them back in the Premier.”

Hampstead’s chairman was not happy with the way they let a strong batting position go to waste, however, as they lost six wickets for 42 runs.

Opener George Adair had got the hosts off to a fine start, but when he was out lbw for 85, they quickly fell from 134-2 to 176-8.

More good work from Scott Barlow (32) and number 10 Chris Beaumont-Dark (37) helped Hampstead go past 250 before they were dismissed.

Brown added: “Our batting performance could be best described as mixed. George was sublime at the top and we were 134-2 off 28 at lunch.

“We were perfectly set for a total in excess of 300, but we managed to fold ourselves to 176-8 and were again indebted to Scott and Chris to get us up to what was a below-par score in the end.”

In the field, Will Roberts stepped up with the ball and claimed 5-64 from 15.4 overs, but the hosts were let down by some slack fielding as Twickenham won by two wickets.

“We bowled well, but it was a good surface and wickets were not going to be easy to get and so we executed most of our plans except for the catching, which was awful and cost us,” said Brown.

“Of course no one drops catches on purpose and it is amateur cricket, but we can’t expect to win matches if we drop so many straightforward chances, so hopefully we’ve got them all out of our system in this one game.”

Hampstead will try to get back to winning ways this weekend away to new leaders Richmond, who remain unbeaten after six games.