NETHERFIELD captain Marc Brown is hoping that a bumper Bank Holiday weekend of cricket will help kick start his side's stuttering season.

The Parkside Road club play three matches in three days culminating in the first local derby of the campaign when they entertain Kendal on Monday.

Brown admits there will be a few tired limbs come Tuesday morning but they will all be worth it should they enjoy a winning weekend - including maintaining their stranglehold on their town rivals.

Netherfield play Barrow on Saturday, travel to Appleby and Eden in the Cumbria County Cup on Sunday before the Kendal clash.

While there is plenty of cricket to be played before that derby date, Brown admits that is the game everyone will be looking forward to.

"It is the game everyone looks forward to and thankfully for us, it is a game we have enjoyed plenty of success in recent seasons," said Brown.

"If the weather stays fine then hopefully we will get a decent crowd on and there is nothing better than playing in front of a lot of spectators."

It has been a disappointing start for both teams but Brown is hoping another win over Kendal will kick their season in to life.

"Since I have been here I can only remember losing to them once but I don't know exactly how many times we have beaten them. But we definitely have had the wood on them in recent seasons and hopefully that can continue and we can start to win matches."

Brown says there has been little wrong with his side's bowling and fielding this season but it has been the batting that has yet to get going - and that was the case in defeat against Chorley on Saturday.

Chorley were put in to bat and were dismissed for 128 with Mark Clarkson returning figures of 6-33 off his 13.5 overs.

"Mark is a quality bowler and it showed on Saturday," added Brown. "He has been like that all season and it again showed that there is very little wrong with our bowling."

Will Moulton top scored for Chorley with 43 before he was trapped lbw by Clarkson with opener David Fisher (21) also among the runs before he went the same way, this time off the bowling of Ryan Wilson.

Brown admits there is pressure on the Netherfield batsman to perform most notably himself and fellow opener Ben Barrow whose highest opening stand this season is only 27.

The pair failed to deliver again on Saturday - Brown going for two and Barrow for seven - but the captain is confident the runs will come.

"It's unusual for both openers to fail to get among the runs but that is the case so far," he said. "We certainly haven't hit the levels of last season yet but we are working hard at it and it only takes one big knock to get things going."

Richard Potter, who has been in form with the bat, went for eight - the top three batsmen all giving lbw off James Lee - before John Mason (28) and Bradley Earl (23) put together a decent stand.

However once they departed, victims of Brenton McDonald, the remaining five wickets went cheaply as Netherfield went from 63-5 to 92 all out.

Looking ahead to the weekend's triple header, Brown admits he will have to juggle his squad to keep them as fresh as possible.

He said: "Barrow have had a similar start to the season to us so we know that is a game we can win. We will have to see how we are after that and make changes if needed for the cup match on Sunday before we play Kendal on Monday.

"There will be some bruised and battered bodies come next week but hopefully it will be worth it."