DORSET skipper Chris Park has called for his side to pick themselves up ahead of the start of their three-day Unicorns Championship campaign next month.

The Minor Counties outfit suffered a crushing 131-run loss to table-toppers Berkshire in the 50-over Knockout Trophy at North Perrott on Sunday, meaning they were dumped out in the group stage of the competition.

But, with a change of format now on the horizon with a home clash against Devon starting on Sunday, June 4, the county captain is hoping his side can put in a strong showing in their second opportunity of the summer.

He told Echosport: “We need to get our confidence back and keep our heads up to look forward to the three-day stuff in a couple of weeks’ time.

“We had two good wins against Oxfordshire and Cornwall (in the Trophy) but there was that nagging disappointment that we should have won against Devon, which means we would have qualified.

“It’s disappointing we haven’t qualified really, but at the end of the day the league table doesn’t lie and Berkshire and Devon deserved to go through.”

On the loss against Berkshire, he added: “As expected, they were a strong side with good game plans and they executed them well. They were too strong for us on the day.

“It was disappointing for the one-day campaign to finish with a heavy defeat and, if we are honest, we were never in the game in the second innings.”