Witham Cricket Club captain Jake Wakelin took little time in getting up to speed for the new season as he scored more than 250 runs in two days in helping them to back-to-back victories.

Wakelin scored an unbeaten century as Witham opened their Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division one campaign with a nine-wicket win against Haverhill.

And he then went and plundered 152 in the North Essex League the following day as Witham cruised to a division two win against Ardleigh.

His unbeaten 100 against Haverhill meant his team got their Two Counties season off to the best possible start.

They restricted Haverhill to 195 for seven from their 50 overs, with Wakelin taking three for 37, before getting past their target inside 32 overs.

Alongside the captain’s century, new overseas player Adrian Chad hit an unbeaten 67 and Wakelin said the manner of their success was an important message to send out to other top-flight teams.

He said: “It was a good start.

“We won the toss and I thought we bowled brilliantly to keep them down to 195.

“There was a bit of rustiness in the field that saw us let about 15 to 20 runs go by, but it was the first game of the season and the bowlers did a great job.

“I think they thought they had a decent score on the board, but our batting line-up is so strong – it’s probably even stronger than it was last year – and we felt very comfortable. It was a great start.

“We wanted to win and while some people may say it doesn’t matter how you win, chasing 190-odd down with just one wicket down is pretty emphatic.”

Witham now have the first of this season’s Essex derbies to look forward to as they head to Halstead on Saturday.

Wakelin said he expected Carl Bragg and Jack Sambrook to be available again, but Greg Taylor may be missing due to a hand injury he picked up while fielding against Haverhill.