BURNHAM Sports suffered their third defeat of the season, at the hands of Aythorpe Roding.

They lost by 64 runs in the T. Rippon Mid-Essex League division one fixture at Millfields on Saturday.

In dark and rainy conditions, Sports won the toss and decided to bowl first.

On a very damp wicket, Aythorpe made a slow start but Burnham’s bowlers also struggled and failed to take a wicket until the 17th over.

By then, the opening batsman for Aythorpe, Gravatt (52), had found his form and developed a good partnership with his son, Sam Gravatt (63).

Once the pair was dismissed, however, the wickets started to tumble.

Jamie Hamilton (four for 26) and David Bridge (three for 16) were both very effective in the final stages of the Aythorpe innings.

Sports eventually bowled the visitors out for 189 in the 41st over, with Bridge claiming the final Aythorpe wicket.

This means that Sports continue on their incredible run of bowling out every team so far this season.

Unfortunately, Sports were unable to chase down Aythorpe’s total.

They lost four wickets in four overs as their batsmen crumbled from good bowling by Aythorpe’s Joe Grant (two for 30) and Jack Stevens (two for 39).

David Bridge, who is in a good patch of form for Sports, shone for Burnham with a composed 44 to raise hopes of a fightback.

However, only one other Burnham batsman, opener Jack Silvester (15), was able to reach double figures, which highlighted how poorly Sports performed with the bat.

Aided by some erratic bowling from the visitors, Sports managed to reach a total of 125 before they were all out in the 34th over.

Captain Joel Whittaker said: “We had a great chance to chase down their score.

"We did a good job of keeping them below 200.

"However, our batting let us down again.

"Credit to Aythorpe. They bowled really aggressively and capitalised on the poor conditions.”

Due to the terrible weather conditions at the weekend, games in the division were heavily reduced and, in the case of Great Totham’s fixture with Brookweald, called off entirely.

Therefore, Burnham are still second in division one, as they claimed maximum bowling points and a batting point.

Next week, in what is the halfway point this season, Sports travel to Great Totham Meanwhile, Burnham’s division eight fixture away to Orsett and Thurrock was called off after just 13 overs were played. Therefore, both teams went away with five points, which means Burnham remain in mid-table.

Next week, the second team host Goresbrook's third XI at Millfields.