DANNY Hancock has challenged his players to make home advantage count in the season’s remainder.

Six of the next eight matches for Davenham in the Cheshire County League’s second tier will be at Butcher’s Stile.

It is an opportunity for the club to finish higher than before in the pyramid.

“A lot of teams don’t like coming here, and we need to make the most of that,” said the first-team captain.

“We know the track, and what we can do on it.

“Our job now is to put together a run of decent results there.”

Davenham finished seventh in Division One last term, their best placing yet.

Following Saturday’s slender defeat at Oulton Park, they sit sixth in the table ahead of this weekend’s visit of Sale.

“We’re feeling confident at the moment, and back ourselves to beat anybody,” he said.

“We’ve bowled well all season – for me we have the best attack in the division.

“However we’ve rarely put a complete performance together; when we’ve bowled well, we’ve not scored heavily.

“On those days we’ve scored few runs, we’ve not been at our best with the ball.

“That consistency hasn’t been there.”

After beating Bollington on the opening day, they did not win again until the end of May.

However a slender single-wicket reverse at Little Budworth on Saturday was their first in six matches.

Overseas signing Givon Christian has settled swiftly, passing 500 runs for the summer by scoring 79 at the weekend.

Hancock said: “We started slowly, but not for any particular reason.

“Things just took time to come together, and collectively we’ve got better.

“Givon has been brilliant on and off the square – it’s been great for me as a young captain to have somebody like him around.

“He’s played first-class cricket back home in South Africa, so I value what he has to say.

“He’s set an example with the bat too; he doesn’t give away his wicket cheaply, and that’s something our top-order guys can learn from.”

Frustratingly for Hancock, he may have to watch whether they do from the boundary after hurting a shoulder injury while fielding during Oulton Park’s innings.

A visit to hospital on Saturday night confirmed a dislocation.

This is his maiden campaign as skipper after he succeeded Mark Greaves over the winter.

“I’m enjoying it,” he reflected.

“It’s especially easy when we’re winning!”