Geoff Dods has been identified as a potential saviour as Burridge attempt to seal their survival.
The South African all-rounder is the club’s leading run-scorer so far this season and turned out for Essex seconds this week as the Chelmsford outfit ran the rule over him.
Skipper Rick Ankers has seen his side tumble to third from bottom of the Southern Electric Premier Division – just three points above the bottom and just a single point ahead of second-from-bottom Ventnor, where they travel today.
And ahead of a crucial fixture, Ankers is considering a reshuffle to the batting order, with Dods given more of a platform.
Ankers said: ‘It’s a massive game and we’ve got to win. We need the batsmen to stand up and I will probably shake the order up this week.
‘I’m toying with the idea of batting higher up myself and pushing Geoff Dods up the order as well. He’s been playing for Essex seconds this week and has done pretty well.
‘He is a very good player and will hopefully have a bit of extra confidence so we need to tap into that. But we will be looking for him and experienced players like Lee Savident to get some runs for us We need a performance.’
Ankers is looking for his men to ensure his team are safe before the final weekend of the season.
He said: ‘We don’t want to go into the last game of the season having to win to stay up. I’d like to think we can win a couple before that. We can win these next two games against Ventnor and St Cross and then we will not have to worry. We are more than capable of doing that and then it would be job done.’
With Will Steward and Dan Hewitt back in the team, the Burridge skipper will also change his approach ahead of the contest. ‘You can go on too much at times and, as captain, you need to be calm and have confidence in the players,’ he added.
They are good players but they have just got to go out and perform – myself included. I’ve tried to hammer home a few points over the past few weeks and it has made no difference so I might just buy them all a pint on the ferry!’
Ventnor, meanwhile, are backing their teenage Tasmanian prospect Sean Willis to 'go big' against Burridge in the critical ECB Southern Electric Premier Division clash at Newclose.
The young Australian has rattled off seven fifty-plus scores for Ventnor this season and is the Premier Division's third highest run scorer with 568 behind Tom Morton and the Academy's adopted left-hander Ben Duggan. Surprisingly, Willis has yet to go beyond 70 in an innings.
But with all-rounder Tom Friend missing against Burridge - who lie one point above Ventnor in third from bottom position - Willis will have further run scoring responsibility on his shoulders. Marc-Antony Eysele replaces Friend and will open alongside Henry Bartlett.
Ventnor: George, Bartlett, Willis, Eysele, Snell, Westhorpe, Whyte, Cheek, H Calloway, Wilson, Holmes.
Alton, dangling nervously on the lip of the relegation zone after a series of indifferent Time pennant results, face a difficult assignment at full strength Lymington, who are aiming for a top four finish.
Lymington: Simon Beetham, Ed Ellis, Dom Hand, Ben Rogers, Ryan Scott, Lewis McManus, Matt Metcalfe, Felix Ambrose, Ben Ashkenazi, Ollie Calcott, Cameron Grierson.
Alton: S Myers, Hammond, Heywood, J Myers, Mike Heffernan, Mark Heffernan, Janmohammed, Anthony, Scott, Salmon, Ball.
The South African all-rounder is the club’s leading run-scorer so far this season and turned out for Essex seconds this week as the Chelmsford outfit ran the rule over him.
Skipper Rick Ankers has seen his side tumble to third from bottom of the Southern Electric Premier Division – just three points above the bottom and just a single point ahead of second-from-bottom Ventnor, where they travel today.
And ahead of a crucial fixture, Ankers is considering a reshuffle to the batting order, with Dods given more of a platform.
Ankers said: ‘It’s a massive game and we’ve got to win. We need the batsmen to stand up and I will probably shake the order up this week.
‘I’m toying with the idea of batting higher up myself and pushing Geoff Dods up the order as well. He’s been playing for Essex seconds this week and has done pretty well.
‘He is a very good player and will hopefully have a bit of extra confidence so we need to tap into that. But we will be looking for him and experienced players like Lee Savident to get some runs for us We need a performance.’
Ankers is looking for his men to ensure his team are safe before the final weekend of the season.
He said: ‘We don’t want to go into the last game of the season having to win to stay up. I’d like to think we can win a couple before that. We can win these next two games against Ventnor and St Cross and then we will not have to worry. We are more than capable of doing that and then it would be job done.’
With Will Steward and Dan Hewitt back in the team, the Burridge skipper will also change his approach ahead of the contest. ‘You can go on too much at times and, as captain, you need to be calm and have confidence in the players,’ he added.
They are good players but they have just got to go out and perform – myself included. I’ve tried to hammer home a few points over the past few weeks and it has made no difference so I might just buy them all a pint on the ferry!’
Ventnor, meanwhile, are backing their teenage Tasmanian prospect Sean Willis to 'go big' against Burridge in the critical ECB Southern Electric Premier Division clash at Newclose.
The young Australian has rattled off seven fifty-plus scores for Ventnor this season and is the Premier Division's third highest run scorer with 568 behind Tom Morton and the Academy's adopted left-hander Ben Duggan. Surprisingly, Willis has yet to go beyond 70 in an innings.
But with all-rounder Tom Friend missing against Burridge - who lie one point above Ventnor in third from bottom position - Willis will have further run scoring responsibility on his shoulders. Marc-Antony Eysele replaces Friend and will open alongside Henry Bartlett.
Ventnor: George, Bartlett, Willis, Eysele, Snell, Westhorpe, Whyte, Cheek, H Calloway, Wilson, Holmes.
Alton, dangling nervously on the lip of the relegation zone after a series of indifferent Time pennant results, face a difficult assignment at full strength Lymington, who are aiming for a top four finish.
Lymington: Simon Beetham, Ed Ellis, Dom Hand, Ben Rogers, Ryan Scott, Lewis McManus, Matt Metcalfe, Felix Ambrose, Ben Ashkenazi, Ollie Calcott, Cameron Grierson.
Alton: S Myers, Hammond, Heywood, J Myers, Mike Heffernan, Mark Heffernan, Janmohammed, Anthony, Scott, Salmon, Ball.