NCL PREVIEW: Saints skipper Park says Peterborough are the team to beat

THAT'S OUT - Saints claim a wicket during their premier division win over Oundle last Saturday (Picture: Kit Mallin)

Park takes his team to Bretton Gate on Saturday to face the reigning NCL Premier Division champions.

Saints currently sit second in the standings, 18 points adrift of table-toppers Finedon but 10 points clear of third-placed Boro.

Old Northamptonians occupy the other place in the top four and Park doesn’t see any of those teams dropping out of the title mix.

However, he does feel there will be plenty of movement among them and knows Boro will only get better.

“Apart from Finedon, all of the teams are still finding their form, but the table is starting to take shape,” said Park.

“One of the current top four will win the league this year.

“If a team finishes above Peterborough they will win the league because they’re the strongest team in it.

“Finedon are the form side but I’ll be interested to see how they get on against the likes of us and Peterborough in the coming weeks.”

As Park points out, Peterborough didn’t have it all their own way last weekend as they failed to finish off Stony Stratford, who survived on 129 for nine to snatch a draw.

But the Saints captain has warned his players to expect a much improved performance from Lewis Bruce’s team this weekend.

“Peterborough not being able to bowl out Stony last weekend was a shock to me, but it doesn’t mean they won’t put in a big performance on Saturday,” he said.

“We’ve got to make sure we concentrate when we’re batting because we didn’t do ourselves justice there last season.

“We’ve got to concentrate against the spin and post a big total to put them under pressure if possible.

“All of our players seem to be taking responsibility at the moment so it’s a happy place to be.”

Elsewhere, Old Northamptonians will look to pick up where they left off last weekend when they face Stony.

Tom Webb’s side walloped Horton House by 190 runs and go into the game against Stony full of confidence.

Brixworth will aim to bounce back from defeat to Wollaston when they host Wellingborough Town, while Horton House face the stiffest of tests as they travel to league leaders Finedon.