CAPTAIN Chris Park stated the intention for his side to “get three-day cricket right” in the future, as Dorset host Cheshire at Chapel Gate tomorrow (11am).

The Minor Counties outfit were hammered by Shropshire in their opening test in the longer format of the game this summer, and only won one MCCA Championship contest in 2015.

Insisting that the Championship was the “bread and butter” format for a Minor Counties cricketer, Park is keen to replicate his side’s impressive 50-over form in the contest at Bournemouth.

Speaking ahead of the encounter, he told Echosport: “I was saying to Prich (Paul Prichard, coach) it would just be nice to try and get three-day cricket right and put in three or four good performances.

“It is hard cricket and you have got to concentrate for all nine sessions. I just feel we have to find our technique, format, and our way of playing three-day cricket as a team.

“Obviously we are trying to improve on the last three-day game we lost. We can all perform better as a team and a batting unit.

“It’s a case of getting our heads around batting time, batting long and deep, and taking the game to the third day.

“Every batsman has time at the crease to find or continue their form and score big runs.”

Asked which format was more important to him as a captain, Park replied: “I’d say both.

“I like one-day cricket and I also like the longer form because of the challenges as a captain, and to have to bowl a team out twice and get the batting unit to fire twice.”

Park, who is also playing on his home ground at Chapel Gate, is hopeful of having Tom Arnold available after he picked up a hand injury against Wiltshire in the field last week.

Giving an update on the top-order batsman, the captain said: “He went to hospital on Monday and I have heard that he has chipped a knuckle.

“He has said he is okay to play and he is playing for New Milton (today) I hear, so as long as that comes through he will be fine.

“We haven’t finalised the side yet, there are still one or two up in the air.

“Cheshire have obviously won their first game against Wiltshire, they will be bang up for it as they always are.”

Dorset (from): Khan, McManus, Arnold, Porter, Webb, Digby, Park, Wolstenholme, Thomson, Currie, Lilley, Pack, Barber, Trueman