A MAN-OF-THE-MATCH performance from Robin Whittaker inspired Burnham Sports first XI to a 58-run victory against high-flying Brookweald at Millfields in their T-Rippon Division One fixture.

Whittaker scored an impressive 59 runs, his first half century of the season, to help Sports reach a first innings total of 199.

Defending that total, he led the bowling attack and claimed four wickets for just 36 runs.

Burnham won the toss and elected to bat first against a side that inflicted defeat on them in the first game of the season. Whittaker came to the crease in the second over and soon found his fluency.

His partnerships with Jack Silvester (19) and Jamie Hamilton (34) guided the home team to a commanding position.

At 123 for three with 20 overs of the innings remaining there was an opportunity to set a large total and put big-hitting Brookweald under pressure.

However, some accurate bowling from Faraz (10-1-21-4) kept the total in check.

Fuad Ahmed added 23 runs at the tail end of the innings as Burnham finished on 199 all out in the final over.

In an unfortunate twist, Brookweald all-rounder Ahsan Yousaf fell awkwardly diving for a catch on the last ball of the innings and injured his shoulder.

He was taken by ambulance to hospital, accompanied by his brother, which left Brookweald with only nine batsmen and a chase of 200 runs ahead of them.

They had no answer to the best bowling attack in the division.

Pace bowler Whittaker took the new ball and struck in his second over to disturb the off stump of opener Faraz.

He continued to bowl a line and length that challenged the Brookweald batsmen and was duly rewarded with three more wickets, including that of the dangerous Khan.

With Brookweald reeling on 42 for four and missing two players, victory for Burnham looked to be a formality.

Irfan Yousaf offered some resistance with a composed 49 not out but the spin bowling of David Bridge caused more problems for the visitors’ batsmen as he claimed three for 38 from ten overs.

A direct hit run-out from Neil Saunders finished off the Brookweald innings on 141, 58 short of Burnham’s total.

Burnham captain Joel Whittaker said: “Robin had great rhythm with bat and ball and contributed hugely to our win.

"It was a shame to see them lose two players because of an injury and that tipped things in our favour, but I cannot fault the team’s performance yet again.”

On Saturday, Sports face an away trip to struggling Ingatestone.

Burnham’s second team also had reason to cheer with a hard-fought win over division eight leaders Great Baddow.

Set 164 to win, Burnham lost key wickets early on and were in real trouble at 32 for five.

Neil Wade came in at number six and quickly began to accumulate runs, halting the Burnham collapse; he went on to make 55 to bring his team back into contention.

The lower order all chipped in to drag the game into the balance; May (17) and Perrin (18) both made useful scores.

Chris Rich remained calm and his 30 not out, coupled with the resilience of youngster Joe Green, saw Burnham over the line as unlikely winners with two overs to spare.

Earlier on, Sports’ captain Jack Shipton showed ability with the ball to claim four Baddow wickets.

Shipton, who usually keeps wicket, removed Nuttall (32) and Taylor (28) early on and then helped clear up the tail to finish with figures of 8.4-0-45-4.

He was ably assisted by another superb bowling performance by David May (10-3-25-4) to restrict Baddow to 163, which ultimately proved too little to defend against a motivated Burnham side.

On Saturday, the second team face Old Southendians, who lie one place above them in the league, at Millfields.