NICK Park maintained his explosive start for his new club before admitting he needed to “pull out my finger” for his county.

Park posted a new entry in the Southern Premier League record books when he shared a 215-run partnership with younger brother James for New Milton.

Their unbroken stand was the joint second highest in the second tier – the best set just seven days earlier when Ross Hunter and Matt Love put on 225 for Hook & Newnham Basics.

Coincidentally, the Parks’ exploits at Fernhill came against the north Hampshire outfit and will stand even though the clash fell foul of the weather just five overs into the Hook reply.

Nick (117) hit 14 fours in his 154-ball stay, while James (99) registered 11 fours and a six as New Milton reached 253 for one before Hook were left stranded on 14 without loss when the heavens opened.

One of the highest run-scorers in SPL history with previous club Bournemouth, Nick Park played a starring role on debut with New Milton when his undefeated 93 helped them to an opening-day win at Andover.

However, his heroics for his new club have been in stark contrast to his first two innings with Dorset, the 28-year-old opener managing only four and 19 in their MCCA Trophy ties against Berkshire and Wales.

Nick Park told the Daily Echo: “I need to pull out my finger for Dorset. I need to take the same mind-set into Minor Counties cricket and look to bat for 50 overs, which I probably haven’t done. I tried against Wales but, unfortunately, I was run out on 19. For me personally, it was a bit of an embarrassment against Berkshire. It was a cracking win for us and the other lads batted superbly. We bowled and fielded well to give ourselves a chance to go through to the next stages.”

Discussing his partnership with brother James, he added: “I like batting with him because we have different styles. It was nice for him to get some runs under his belt, especially after the season he had last year.”

Nick Park, James Park and Mark House, three members of Bournemouth’s victorious Cockspur Twenty20 Cup team in 2009, left Chapel Gate for Fernhill over the winter.

“I fancied a new challenge,” said Nick Park. “We aren’t just looking at this season, we are looking at next season as well. It has been a positive start and, hopefully, we can build on it over the next few weeks.

“This was the first time we had played together because not everyone had been available for the first couple of friendlies. It was frustrating to set a decent score for the opposition to chase and then for the rain to ruin the game.”