‘We never know when we’re beaten’ – Burnley captain

Last season’s Worsley Cup finalists dug themselves out of a hole to advance to the second round of the competition at the expense of Enfield at the weekend and they came back from the dead to see off Rochdale just 24 hours later.

Bharat Tripathi’s breakthrough in the final over, when claiming the wicket of Jack Cook at Turf Moor, earned his side a date with Accrington at Thorneyholme Road on Saturday, May 25th.

The quadruple-winning skipper of 2015 then took 6-21 from a 14 over spell to help Burnley defend their less-than-impressive 89-run total at Redbrook.

“They were strange games really,” said Pickup. “It turned in to a bit of a crazy weekend and I’m not too sure how we managed to come away with two wins.

“We looked dead and buried on Saturday and we were staring down the barrel of defeat on Sunday. But we came back from the dead both times and we managed to pull it out of the bag.

“Those are the type of games that we might not have won in the past but we never gave up. We took it as deep as we could but it looked like Enfield would stay in control.

“However, we finished really strongly and got over the line. We looked out of the game but the signs are good; we’re winning games in ugly fashion.”

The skipper added: “They’re good qualities to have, we’ve got that fighting spirit. That will stand us in good stead for the season because it’s going to be tough.

“It’s an extremely competitive division so there will be a lot of games where there’s not much in it.

“We’ve all got to play each other twice and there’s not much between the teams. There have been a few upsets already and I think that is how it’s going to be all season. We’ve got to scrape through the difficult games to give ourselves a chance.”

Former Ramsbottom professional Daryn Smit will be on hand to help out at home to Clitheroe on Sunday following news that South African cricketer Shadley Van Schalkwyk won’t be available to play this term.

“It’s all been a bit rushed,” said Pickup. “We were expecting Shadley (Van Schalkwyk) to arrive last week but he contacted us out of the blue to inform us that he wasn’t fit to travel.

“It’s a bit of a blow because we’d organised our season around Shadley but we’ve moved on now.”

Lowerhouse, meanwhile, will look to bounce back from a first league defeat of the season on Sunday.

Ben Heap’s side lost by 14 runs at home to Norden, having won their opening two league games.

The West Enders make the short trip to Thorneyholme Road to face Accrington.