Hainault and Clayhall captain Yasin Patel faces a selection headache ahead of this weekend’s top-of-the-table clash with Brentwood.

Patel was forced to make six changes for last Saturday’s match against Woodford Wells, but Hainault came out on top with a comfortable six-wicket win and climbed to third in the Premier Division table.

However, with a number of last weekend’s absentees now available for selection again, Patel faces a dilemma over which 11 to select for the visit from the early season pace setters.

“I won’t be Mr Popular,” he said. “Of course everyone wants to play, but our club try to do things that benefit everyone.

“Just because you are not selected for the first 11 one particular week does not mean you are not considered a first team player.

“We are very fortunate to have seven Saturday teams. If the players are performing well and all vying for places in the first 11 then I’m not going to argue about that. It’s a nice position to be in.”

Brentwood had won all four of their opening matches this season, but defeat to Ilford on Saturday saw Hainault – and the rest of the chasing pack – close the gap on the Premier League leaders.

Patel feels Hainault’s win over Woodford Wells shows they are improving in all aspects of their game and insists he will be more concerned with his team’s own performance than that of Brentwood’s.

“Brentwood are always going to be a test for us, because they have shown consistency in every department over the last few years,” he said. “But as well as worrying about the opposition we have to look at our own strengths and weaknesses and look at how we fair, not worry how good they are.

“The guys did well (v Woodford Wells). We kept the opposition down to a decent total and then our batsmen went about chasing it in the right way.

“They were very positive and very confident. We had just one thing in our minds and even if the opposition had put in a more attacking field we’d have delivered.

“One can’t ask for anything more, we batted well as we tend to do and we’re slowly improving on our bowling and fielding.”