In the face of a poor start to the season, Spencer Cricket Club skipper Neil Baker has claimed former England international Alex Tudor is not responsible for winning games.

Following a second successive defeat in the Premier Division of the Surrey Championship on Saturday, where pace bowler Tudor took a single wicket in nine overs, Spencer are sitting eighth in the table.

But Baker wants to take the pressure off his well-known star. He said: “Alex has settled in well and is a lot more relaxed than when he was a professional player.

“But he should not have to carry too much responsibility on his shoulders. It it not down to him to win us every game – the reality is we have good enough players to put in the level of performance that we want.

“We cannot expect Alex to be taking five wickets and hitting 100 runs every time he plays, that is not going to happen.”

There was brighter news with the ECB National Club Championship win over Sunbury on Sunday, although Baker is not getting carried away.

He said: “It was nice to get that win under the belt, but Sunbury put out a second team. Our league performances have been disappointing. We’ve bowled and fielded well, but it’s the batting that has let us down.

“We have young players in and maybe they are being a little naive, playing a shot when it is better to leave it.”

It was the batting that let Spencer down against Guildford on Saturday when, chasing 180-8, they were skittled on 162 in the 49th over – Pierre Jason top-scoring on 28.

Baker said: “We should be getting Jonathan Batty back in the next couple of weeks and he will add some depth to our batting attack.

“Weybridge this weekend is not a must-win game, although because they have not won yet as well, it does feel like a big game.

“We would like to think it is a game we can win, but it is not the end of the world if we don’t.”