Captain Ben Trevor-Jones admitted winning the toss was the key on a damp day at Attenborough as his side, chasing just 74, eased to 75-3 in 22.3 overs for a seven wicket success.

“It's really nice to have started so positively,” said Trevor-Jones.

“It was quite wet at Attenborough, so the toss was extremely important to win. So there was an element of luck to it.

“Having said that the wicket still wasn't easy to bat on in the afternoon and we lost a couple of early wickets. So I was really pleased with the result.

“All the bowlers were brilliant. When you win a toss on a wicket like that and are so desperate to bowl then sometimes the pressure can be laid onto the bowlers.

“But the seamers were particularly patient up top, then the spinners did a good job through the middle in making it really difficult for the batsmen to score and created some mistakes.”

For the home side, Lucas Stentiford made 24 while David France took 3-24 off nine overs and Matt Montgomery 4-12 off 7.5.

In reply, after early stumbles at 4-2 and 27-3, Eamonn Vines and Trevor-Jones saw them through, both with 28 not out.

On Saturday Papplewick head for Wollaton and Trevor-Jones added: “I think rain is predicted again this weekend so it could be another key toss to win at Wollaton. But we should be going there with a pretty strong team so hopefully we can go three from three.”

Hucknall have also won both openers and sit third, this time edging a thriller by just four runs at Hucknall.

Asked to bat, Hucknall made 183 with Nolan Benson scoring a crucial 65, Dom Wheatley 39 and Muhammed Imran claiming 4-19 off 10.

Rain intervened and after a 40-minute break Wollaton were given a revised target of 178 from 48 overs but fell just short on 173-9, Johan Cronje with 46 and Daniel Andrew 35.

Hucknall captain Sam Johnson said: “We are making a habit of taking games right to the end – but we did really well to be honest and it was a really good win in tough circumstances in the end with a dark ball and reduced overs.

“It was quite wet over there and they put us into bat. It was tough going early doors.”

On Nolan's innings, he added: “The best thing about Nolan is he plays his way. He is a very attacking player and on a wicket like that sometimes you have to take a risk. He took the risk - it paid off and he gave us a chance of winning the game.

“We can't grumble at a 100 per cent record so far but it just puts a target on our back as much as anything. We have to be really careful we don't let it go to our heads or get too high with the highs or low with the lows.”

Hucknall are at newly-promoted West Bridgfordians on Saturday and Johnson said: “We do know a few of their lads just from the local club cricket scene, but it is a relative trip into the unknown - and make no mistake they will be absolutely gunning for us after winning last week.”

Papplewick & Linby go top of the NPL table after two wins