SKIPPER Martin Miller is urging Bournemouth to keep making hay while the sun shines as their batting blues disappear with the rain clouds.

The Lions have been more consistent at the crease in recent weeks, going from double-figure scores to racking up more than 1,000 runs in their past five Southern Premier League Division One outings.

An upturn in fortunes has resulted in Miller’s men grabbing hold of the coattails of the leading pack, despite the captain admitting defeat in the title race only a few weeks ago.

And while it is not unusual for teams to score well on brighter days, Miller reckons his team is perfectly placed for a late-season charge, starting with tomorrow’s home clash with Rowledge (1pm).

Miller told the Daily Echo: “Most teams would tell you it was tough for batsmen to score runs during the opening weeks of the campaign.

“Because of a wet April and May, a lot of people found it tricky. Some of our problems were shared by opponents, it was down to pitches and the speed of the outfield at times.

“Thankfully, we are now starting see see what we are capable of. We were not able to put it into practice during the opening part of the season but our batting has come good.

“I have never had a problem with our bowling and recently, we have managed to put that together with strong batting performances to climb the table.

“We are still a little bit behind and have some tough games coming up but we are fourth and things are a bit closer than they were a few weeks back.”

Next on the agenda is Portsmouth and Liphook & Ripsley and the importance of continuing momentum is not lost on Miller with big-hitters Hook, Basingstoke and Sarisbury to come in the final three matches.

But with Ben Bridgen, who claimed 95 runs, two wickets and three catches against Totton & Eling last weekend, unavailable, Bournemouth have called up Tom West on the back of his century for the seconds.

“Ben joined us from Wimborne & Colehill three years ago and had a good season but then he couldn’t play much last year,” said Miller.

“Now, he has come good and is one of the league’s leading run scorers at the moment.

“We missed him last year and we would have done much better than we did had he been available.

“He is in the form of his life, which comes as no surprise to me. I played against Ben in the Dorset League, he has always been a good player and he is probably our best batsman at the moment.

“He is hitting the ball very well so his absence is not ideal but I have faith in the other boys to step up to the plate.”

Dave Kidner has also been drafted in for his first appearance of the season with Dom Clutterbuck returning.

Chris Bollom drops to the second XI.