Suffer rotter batting first (5)
I believe the answer is:
incur
'suffer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'rotter batting first' is the wordplay.
'rotter' becomes 'cur' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'batting' becomes 'in'.
'first' says to put letters next to each other.
'cur' put after 'in' is 'INCUR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for incur that I've seen before include "Fall into - invite" , "Bring something on oneself, often unpleasant" , "Become subject to (something unwelcome)" , "Bring something unpleasant on oneself (5)" , "Become responsible for" .)