BRAINTREE Cricket Club captain believes his players' inner hunger and desire to play at the top level in the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship will be key to their promotion quest this year.

A win at Ipswich and East Suffolk last weekend has kept Braintree in the very heart of a tight tussle for the division two title and they will head to Copford sitting third in the table, but just seven points off leaders Haverhill.

It is set to be a tremendous battle during the second half of the campaign as Braintree bid to make a rapid return to division one and Garner feels what lies within his players will be a key factor if they are to succeed.

He said: "I think comes down to everyone’s personal ambition.

"It’s nice to be winning most weeks, but I know personally I would prefer to be playing a higher standard and testing myself each week.

"We have played in division one and succeeded in the season before last.

"That should be where everyone wants to get back to.

"It's very tight at the top of the table but it is down to us as a team to make sure that we continue playing the way we have."

The win at Ipswich and East Suffolk maintained a strong run of form for Braintree, but they were unable to take a full 20-point haul due to the game being reduced to 25 overs per side.

It was done due to a clash with England's football involvement in the World Cup and even though they missed out on potentially valuable bowling bonus points, Garner felt reducing the game's length was the correct call.

He added: "Unfortunately, due to the football, we had an issue with availability, so the decision was made in agreement with Ipswich to reduce the game.

"It isn’t ideal, but having the win will have to suffice.

"In the end it was a good, solid win.

"The pitch didn’t offer our bowlers anything to what we expected when I chose to bowl first.

"In a reduced game, a team can rely on one player to get a decent score and that’s what Ipswich did.

"I honestly believe the reduced overs probably helped us in our chase.

"We knew that with chasing six or seven an over for our innings we would have to be positive throughout and that probably took any nerves out of the equation."

Braintree will now head to Copford looking to extend their good form, but Garner said he expected Dan Chalk, Rory Ainsley and Robbie Spalding to be unavailable.