AN excellent display with the ball was backed up by a dominant batting display from Witham Cricket Club's opening pair as they got back on track in Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division one.

Having had two games rained off and then suffered back-to-back defeats, Witham showed they were back to form by beating Coggeshall by eight wickets for their third win of he campaign.

The victory was set up by an excellent bowling display by Witham, with Greg Stephens taking four for six from 6.3 overs and Carl Bragg getting four for 38 from his ten overs.

Billy Moulton-Day and New Zealander Ken McClure also took one wicket apiece as Coggeshall were bowled out for 145 inside 42 overs.

"It was a good all-round confident performance and I never felt that the result was in any doubt at any stage," said Witham skipper Jake Wakelin.

"We took early wickets and had them under pressure from the start.

"In the last couple of seasons, our spinners have been a big plus for us, but myself and Greg Stephens have not been at our best in the last couple of games.

"However, Greg's performance on Saturday was one of the best I have seen and Carl Bragg backed him up with an excellent performance."

That bowling and fielding display gave Witham confidence at the halfway stage that they could go on and take the win and Wakelin was pleased to see their opening duo prove that confidence was not unfounded.

Chris Huntington scored 72 from 57 balls on his Witham debut and Michael Godwin continued his superb early-season form as he struck an unbeaten 59 to guide Witham over the line for an eight-wicket win inside 32 overs.

Wakelin added: "We felt 145 was never enough for them to defend.

"It was probably 80 to 90 runs under par on that wicket and I think that shows how we got to 146 with just two wickets down inside 32 overs.

"Chris Huntington batted brilliantly on his debut and Michael Godwin continues to score runs for fun.

"We've had two games rained off, but in the five that we have played, Michael has now hit two centuries, a 50 and another where he scored 49 and he's just continuing to go from strength to strength.

"We were gutted with the results we'd had in the two weeks before this, but I feel we put the wrongs right with this performance."

Witham will now hope to build on their success when they host third-placed Haverhill on Saturday and, with the same line-up expected to be in place, Wakelin is hoping for a similar outcome.

"We are probably going to be unchanged," he said.

"Ollie Cooke is back available again, but I think we'll be unchanged as we'll have confidence after beating a good side quite convincingly last weekend."