As Kendal prepare to host Darwen, skipper Stu Parkin has urged his side to develop a tough streak and become harder to beat.


After losing their seventh wicket against St Annes last weekend, Darren Braithwaite and Adam Cowperthwaite battened down the hatches and batted out time to deny the visitors victory.


And this resilience is exactly the mentality Parkin hopes the Shap Road club will adopt on a regular basis to guard against points being gifted to the opposition.


“I want to develop the approach that we’re not going to roll over and give away points for the sake of us having a go at a target,” he said.


“In the past we have perhaps become a bit weak and just carried on playing our shots when there is no realistic chance of winning, throwing our wickets away.


“This was the case in some senses on Saturday as I did not feel St Annes bowled well enough to bowl us out and I felt a few batsmen got themselves out playing ridiculous shots and not thinking.


“I want teams to know they have to earn points when they come to Kendal, it’s all about playing intelligent cricket and thinking about the game situation.”


Kendal welcome back sub professional Adil Raza for Saturday’s clash after the 21-year-old enjoyed a productive debut by taking 3-42 from 14 overs.


Parkin was impressed with the performance of the former Pakistan under19 international and believes Raza will again prove an asset this weekend.


“Adil did really well, his pace early on was impressive and he came back at the end and kept one end tight,” he said.


“That’s exactly what you want from your professional and I’m sure he will reproduce the same kind of form.


“Darwen are a strong side and it should be an interesting game, we will go into it in a positive frame of mind as we do every week.”


Meanwhile, Netherfield travel to Stanley Park on Saturday to take on Blackpool with Marc Brown conceding that last weekend’s results typify their whole season.


The Parkside Road club were dismissed for less than a hundred in defeat at Leyland but followed that with victory over Preston in the Readers Cup quarter-final.


“The last two results sum up our entire summer,” he said. “We’re capable of beating anybody in this league when we have our strongest team out and we have shown that this year.


“We are just going through a real inconsistent phase at the minute and that is why we are mid-table, we haven’t been able to string together two or three victories.


“The Leyland loss was particularly disappointing, especially after putting in a really strong bowling performance but we need to pick ourselves up and get as high in the league as possible.


Netherfield entertain Settle on Tuesday evening as a warm-up match ahead of the ECB Twenty20 area finals on August 11.


Brown and Co have been drawn against Astley Bridge in the semi-final with the winners to play either Rochdale or Ormskirk in the final.


“This is a very important competition for the club and we felt it important to maintain our skills in this form of the game,” added Brown.


“It is certainly something to look forward to but we have some big games coming up before then.”


Teams
Preston v Darwen
Stu Parkin (Captain), Terry Hunte, Ryan Nelson, Jack White, Chris Miller, Darren Moore, Nick Lewthwaite, Oliver Field, Nick Phillips, Adam Cowperthwaite, Adil Raza (Professional)


Netherfield team unavailable at time of going to press