BRENTWOOD Cricket Club captain Jon Walford admits his side came up short with the bat as they were beaten by Shenfield on Saturday.
The home side were bowled out for 160 and then lost by three wickets – much to the frustration of their skipper and opening bat.
"We didn't bat very well at all," he said. "Shenfield bowled very well, we lost a lot of early wickets and were 60-5.
"We dug out a score of 160, but it was probably a 250-plus wicket, so it was always going to be hard work.
"We bowled pretty well but a couple of their lads got stuck in and they won it seven down.
"I think even 190 looking at it might have done the job. We had them 125-7, so it was very disappointing.
"We've been batting very well in the last two league games. We got 280-2 and then chased 170-1 so it's very disappointing to lose early wickets when we've got batsmen in form."
The fixture was the last of the games in the 50-over format as the Essex Premier League now switches to an all-day format, and Walford admits there is slight disappointment at his side's return from their first five games.
He added: "We aimed to win four of the first five 50-over games, that's what we've done in the past.
"It's not disastrous to only win three, but it's not where we wanted to be.
"We've had a couple of bad performances, but we've had some very good performances and we just need to be more consistent."
The change in game brings new challenges for the skipper, but he believes his side can thrive in the longer version of the game.
"I think we're pretty good at both formats really," he added. "It's harder to win the all-day games.
"Hopefully we can win a few tosses, because the toss is very important. Ideally you want to be chasing as it's a lot easier to win that way.
"You get more batting points if you bat first, but to bowl a team out second is obviously harder – it's easier to win chasing.
"But saying that, our attack is doing very well so if anyone is going to bowl a team out second, it's us.
"It's a little bit less frantic for me, I can set different fields especially if you're trying to bowl them out in the second innings and they're going for a draw."