North Middlesex captain Joel Hughes wants his side to continue with the momentum that they’re building as they top of the league table.

Hughes and his side will travel away to Richmond on Saturday as they look to extend their lead at the top of the Middlesex County Cricket Premier Division.

“We’ve got to keep doing what we’ve been doing well for the last five weeks. It’s been really encouraging that it’s not been the same two batters every week,” the captain said.

“It’s been different batters for the last three or four weeks so fingers crossed there is a couple more that can turn out match winning performances this week.

“It’s a brilliant culture to have as it does mean when lads get in they know that it is their job to go on and make a significant contribution. They’re also hungry to do it, so that is great to see.”

They head into the clash on the back of an 85 run victory over Crouch End where they lost the toss and were put in to bat first where they ramped up a score of 225-9 thanks to Matthew Cracknell (71) and James Parslow (64) with other batsmen chipping in along the way.

Ham & High: James Parslow hit a century for North Middlesex in their win over FinchleyJames Parslow hit a century for North Middlesex in their win over Finchley (Image: Archant)

They then bowled their opponents out for 140 runs with superb bowling from Hughes (6-52), Hugh Teesdale (2-13), and Gareth James (1-13).

“It was a fantastic result. I think there were periods in the game when we were bowling that we thought we might have to settle for a winning draw, but to get over the line and get 12 points was a massive result for the club which puts us in pole position.

“We kept chipping away. Hugh bowled nicely again and Gaz has been a really good impact bowler, he’s bowling quick and causing people trouble.

“It was a good team performance. I thought we fielded really well and the batters were fantastic and really dug in against a really good attack.”

The skipper was full of praise for batsmen Matthew Cracknell and James Parslow who came up big for his side.

“Matt Cracknell was fantastic. That’s the best I've seen him bat. He’s been in good form but he really knuckled down and played skilfully against some skilful bowling.

“It was also fantastic to have Parslow back after five or six weeks off with his knee injury and he played brilliantly. He went through the gears and got us in a position where we could really attack the spinners in the second half of our innings.”