Malden Wanderers skipper Simon Crampton is confident his men can find their feet in the Surrey Championship Premier Division.

Wanderers, promoted from Division One last summer, lost by five wickets to a strong Banstead outfit at Cambridge Avenue on Saturday, to follow last week’s 31-run defeat at Guildford.

A 64-run partnership between Alan Cope (41) and Mark Ashcroft (29) was the cornerstone of Malden’s 191 all-out, but it was not enough as Liam Burns (47), Matt Spriegel (30) and captain Jak Martin (49*) saw the visitors home.

It means back-to-back defeats for Wanderers since opening the campaign with a win at Weybridge, but Crampton, right, was confident of a return to form in the near future.

“It would be stupid not to say survival was the first target,” he said.

“Like much of the rest of the country, the weather has meant we have had little match practice.

“We’d have loved to have kicked on from the Weybridge game.

“But I’m sure that once we get a string of performances together, we’ll find the form of last year.

“Winning becomes a habit.”

Wanderers had reduced Banstead to 150-5 on Saturday, but Martin saw his side home.

“We had a sniff but we couldn’t capitalise, which was disappointing,” added Crampton.

“We missed the control and experience of Giles Puckle, who is back this week.”

Sunbury, for whom Middlesex star Adam London has already struck two unbeaten centuries this summer, are the hosts for Crampton’s men tomorrow.