NETHERFIELD captain Marc Brown says his team needs more time to gel with the bat after they were surprised at home to Chorley on Saturday.

Chorley, who were second from bottom before the game, beat a Netherfield side that are usually very strong at Parkside Road, although Field have only played just two games at home this season.

Brown felt his side were around 40 runs short when they posted 178 in the first innings, but he retained a positive outlook as to how his side would fare this season.

“Chorley bowled and fielded pretty well - I was in two minds at the toss as to whether we should bat first,” said Brown.

“I took the more positive move but we just didn’t get enough runs.

“It’s going to take a while to bed in as a team - we lost quite a few players in the winter and sometimes the answers don’t come overnight.

“There’s a long way to go and there is no better opportunity to turn it around than when you’re playing the top team in the league at home (Barrow), so let’s get a good performance at the weekend.”

Friday night was a different story for the Parkside Road side when they turned over Barrow in a 10-run win.

“We seem to be performing well in that competition,” said Brown.

“We’ve had two quite tight games but we’ve got ourselves in a good position and if we beat Kendal we should be through.”

Chris Miller was also happy with his side’s comfortable eight-wicket win over Barrow in the Twenty20 on Tuesday night, as well as the salvaging of a draw at Fleetwood on Saturday.

He praised the batting of Terry Hunte and sub-pro Brad Moses, who will reclaim his place as sub-pro for this weekend’s home tie against second-placed Leyland.

“Terry and the sub-pro batted very well and we were good bowling again as we were when we lost to Netherfield in the Twenty20,” said Miller.

“Fleetwood batted very well on Saturday and Holland and Parker, (who both got centuries) didn’t give us many chances.

“They bossed about 85 per cent of the game so it was a good effort to come away with five points under the circumstances, especially when we found out at about 11am that the sub-pro wasn’t coming. We showed some real good character “It doesn’t seem to be getting any easier and the form suggests Leyland should beat us on Saturday.

“But we’re unbeaten in four games so we’re high on confidence and I don’t think Luis Reece is playing because he’s in the Lancashire squad - he’s been getting runs by the hatful so that’s a bonus.”

Teams

Netherfield

1st XI v Barrow (home) Saturday: M Brown (cap), J Huck (wk), B Barrow, C Walmsley, B Earl, B Herron, G Hall, R Wilson, N Chambers, B Airey, Ackermann

1st XI v Darwen (home) Sunday (Readers Cup): M Brown (c), J Huck (wk), B Barrow, S Clement, B Earl, B Herron, G Hall, R Wilson, N Chambers, M Hadwin, Ackermann

Kendal

1st XI v Leyland (home) Saturday: C Miller (cap), G Baker (wk), R Nelson, D Moore, J White, T Hunte, D Braithwaite, N Lewthwaite, A Cowperthwaite, S Parkin, Moses