WITHAM Cricket Club captain Jake Wakelin says it is important for his team to stay in the winning habit after their Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship victory against Frinton seconds.

After two defeats on the bounce that had seen them drop to second from bottom in the division one table, Witham bounced back in style with a dominant performance against the Seasiders at the Park as they claimed victory by 119 runs.

And Wakelin, who returned for the game from an ankle ligament injury, said it is now important that they push on to string a run of positive results together.

He said: "It was an important win because we'd gone a couple of games in a row without doing that.

"We had to get back to winning ways and that's crucial because losing like winning can become a habit.

"You don't want to get a losing habit.

"The confidence that you get from a win is a big thing and we want to move on from this.

"The league is very tight still as everyone has been picking up results and that means if you can string together a run of four or five wins then you can jump up a long way.

"This year is really tight and anyone is capable of beating anyone else, but I know that if we play like we did against Frinton on Saturday then we're a hard team to beat.

"There are not many who are better than us in this league when we turn up, but we have to make sure we turn up."

Wakelin said the only disappointment from Saturday's game was that while several players, himself included, made decent starts, no-one was able to press on and accumulate a really big score.

James Suett was top scorer for the second week running with 38, while Wakelin and Matt Anderson also made it into the 30s and Michael Godwin scored 26.

Without a big score in their line-up, that restricted Witham's total to 202 from their 45 overs, however, it proved a winning score as they did the business with the ball.

Shaun Bragg ripped the heart out of Frinton's top order with four for 23 and Jack Sambrook then destroyed the middle order as he took four for 16 and the Seasiders were skittled out for just 83 in 32.3 overs.

Wakelin added: "We played a good game after losing the toss.

"It was a damp wicket that we wanted to bowl on first, but we were able to post what we thought was a good score.

"Myself , Michael Godwin, Jim Suett and Matt Anderson all made good starts, but none of us were able to kick on and get a really big score that would have made the total unbeatable.

"However, we were pretty pleased and knew that if we bowled and fielded as we can then we'd have a good chance.

"That was how it played out as Shaun Bragg made a great start and he was backed up by Jack Sambrook, but we caught well and fielded well and never really gave an boundary balls away.

"It was a good performance and one that he boys really needed."

Witham will have to wait for their Two Counties Championship division one action this week, though, as they head to Maldon on Bank Holiday Monday.

Wakelin added: "I don't think it makes much of a difference.

"It was Maldon who wanted it because they have something on and we were happy to move as we didn't want to be playing their third team.

"I know some teams may have seen that as an opportunity but we want a proper game and we won't be missing anyone."