Thame Town found it hard to break the stranglehold of a tight Burnham attack and went down to a three-wicket defeat in their opening game of their Home Counties Premier League Division 2 West campaign.

Put in to bat on a slow Burnham pitch, Thame got off to a steady start, with Sam Lachlan holding the early part of the innings with a sedate 50.

But when it came to accelerating the scoring , they lost some cheap wickets.

A late flourish by Steve Merry and Olly Heath took Thame up to 179-7 from their 60 overs, which gave their bowlers some sort of total to defend.

Zulfi Butt was Burnham's best bowler with 5-61 in 19 overs.

However, Thame's opening attack just did not bowl accurately enough as Burnham got off to a flying start.

It was only when spinners Steve Merry and Rob Brooks bowled in tandem that the batsmen struggled.

When Merry picked up three quick lbws, thame had a chance of victory.

However Habib Khan, who scored a stylish half-cerntury remained to guide Burnham to victory.

Steve Merry returned 4-43 in 16 overs of offspin.