Spencer CC skipper Neil Baker pulled no punches in the criticism of his players after their promotion hopes hit another buffer on Saturday.

A six-wicket defeat at home to Division One strugglers Camberley has left Spencer 18 points off the promotion places.

After starting the season with five consecutive wins, Spencer were riding high at the end of June, however they have dropped away disastrously with four defeats in the past five games.

Saturday’s defeat came despite a century knock from Shah Zaib Hassan Khan (130) as Spencer carded a respectable 298-9.

However, Camberley opener Max Shoveller hit 157 off 89 balls to guide his battlers to 299-4.

Baker said: “We have played some inept cricket recently, which has been really disappointing.

“The parallels between last season and this are there for all to see, we started both seasons strongly, and then fallen apart.

“I believe we have not been able to keep up the intensity and some people have slacked off at times.”

He added: “Getting 298 against Camberley is a good score, but sometimes you have to hand it to the opposition and say they played well.

“Max came out on the attack, had a bit of luck and we missed chances, but he hits the ball miles and that put pressure on our bowlers and they could not stand up to it.

“He was the difference between the sides, and you have to admit he played well.”

Despite the drop in form, Baker is still not writing off a final push to promotion and remains convinced his players have not become a bad side over night.

Spencer face promotion rivals East Molesey this weekend and Cranleigh during the run-in, something Baker considers key to any success.

“I am confident that we are still a good side because we had some great results in the first half of the season and that does not just go away over night,” he said.

“We have East Molesey and Cranleigh to play, we need to beat them, win the rest of our games and they have to lose at least one more game each.

“We can still win promotion, it is still possible, although we are going a long way to messing it up, and we cannot afford to keep doing that.”