WITHAM Cricket Club captain Jake Wakelin believes the way that his team have played in the second half of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship season means they can set their sights high next year.

Following an up and down first half to their 2017 division one campaign, Witham enjoyed tremendous form after the midway point, winning six games - including one against new champions Elmstead - tying one and losing just three.

While one of those defeats came on the final day as Witham were beaten by four wickets at second-placed Wivenhoe, Wakelin felt his team could have been challenging at the top themselves had their first-half form matched the second.

As it was, Witham concluded the campaign in fifth spot and Wakelin believes the way younger players have performed this year means they should be aiming high in 2018.

He said: “You have to sum it up as a season of two halves.

“In the first half, things didn’t really fall for us with key moments in games not going our way and us not taking opportunities, but I can’t fault the performances or results in the second half.

“They have been brilliant - we’ve had title-winning form.

“I think we were around second-from-bottom at the halfway point, so to finish fifth is a great effort.

“Without the likes of Kaan Hawes and Leroy Facey, who have been key members of Witham sides in recent years, it was always going to be tough but players like Michael Godwin and Michael Glynn have done themselves proud.

“I think we can now have a good close season and come back fresh after Christmas.

“With some of the young lads who have come through this year, I see no reason why we can’t be looking at winning the league next year.

“This year was all about building with young players and giving them experience and we can look to push on now.”

One of those young players to emerge was 14-year-old Luke Brown, who opened the bowling for Witham in his first-team debut at Wivenhoe.

The youngster was one of a number of changes to Witham’s line-up as Wakelin said they had looked to juggle the look of the side in the final game to allow players to have opportunities in new positions.

Continued on page 54 The final day ended in a four-wicket defeat as after Witham were 198 all out, the hosts made it to 200 for six, but Wakelin said it had been good to try new things out.

He added: “Luke Brown is in the Essex Under-14s and has been bowling very well in our seconds this year so we felt it was good to give him his first-team debut.

“He did himself proud and by no means looked out of place.

“That’s what this club is all about.

“We decided we’d change things around to let people have opportunities they may otherwise not get, like swapping the order around with Pete Austin opening the batting.

“We knew Wivenhoe were going for the title but we wanted to see if we could learn something from it.

“We just wanted to enjoy the final game.”