DORSET skipper Chris Park says now is the "perfect time" for his young side to flourish in the ultimate form of the game.

Park's team launch their Unicorns Championship season tomorrow (11am) when they welcome Devon to Sherborne School for a three-day encounter.

Dorset's Unicorns Knockout Trophy campaign expired with a crushing defeat to Berkshire in their final group game last month.

Nevertheless, as a man who believes in the primacy of Test cricket in this T20 age, Park insists the forthcoming leg of their season will provide his players with a formidable challenge.

He told the Daily Echo: "I am a firm believer that red-ball cricket represents the pinnacle of the game. I watch Test cricket with far more interest than I do the T20 stuff.

"There is more skill involved in bowling sides out on the fourth or fifth day and spinners come into things the longer a match goes on.

"It has so many different strands, you have the calm before the storm, pressure building just before tea, or at the end of the day the opening bowler having 10 overs to get two or three wickets, or an opening batsmen needing to see off the new ball during a tricky spell.

"And, more often than not, the best team wins.

"We can forget the one-day stuff and concentrate on the longer form now. It demands good technique, the bowlers have to get 20 wickets and the batsmen have to stick in for extended periods of time.

"Those are things we are trying to improve and there would be no better time to start doing that than now."

Dorset finished eighth in the Western Division last season, winning two of their six matches.

Park is targeting a more consistent campaign and, initially, a repeat of 12 months ago, when his team beat Shropshire to get off to a winning start.

He is also ready for his own captaincy credentials to receive a rigorous examination, as Dorset seek to avenge their 50-over defeat by Devon in April.

"One-day cricket has a bit of a script," continued Park. "I can make tweaks and changes here and there but you know who your death bowlers and middle bowlers are, and who you want to bat in the power plays.

"In three-day cricket you have to be extremely flexible and adapt very quickly. It is a different kind of pressure and a lot more tactical nous goes into it, which I enjoy.

"We have all played five or six club games and the one-day matches for Dorset so far this season. Now we have six three-day games to improve our techniques and our cricket.

"It is about development and the pathway to first-class cricket for all of our young players. This is the perfect time to get stuck into these matches."

Dorset: Whorlow, Arnold, Digby, Porter, Webb, Naik, Thomson, Park, Woodruff, Wolstenholme, Hayman. Twelfth man: Clutterbuck.