WHOEVER wins the personal battles will go a long way to winning Sunday's highly anticipated Cumbrian County Cup semi final clash between Netherfield and Kendal.

Those are the beliefs of Kendal captain Chris Miller who takes his side across town for another local derby - with a cup final place at stake.

The match has added significance for both sides; it is Kendal's last chance of winning silverware this season while Netherfield would clearly love to add to their Twenty20 Cup success.

Miller, who guided his team to a league victory at Parkside Road earlier in the season, believes Kendal go in to the match as underdogs with all the pressure on the hosts.

By contrast, his counterpart, Marc Brown, believes his side is ideally suited to the format of cup cricket and is keen to put more silverware in the trophy cabinet.

"It is a local derby and these matches are always important," said Miller. "The fact that it is a cup semi final just adds a bit of spice to the occasion.

"We are really looking forward to it and have been since we knew we were playing Netherfield. Because of our league position and the fact that we got knocked out of the Readers Cup, this is our last chance to win anything."

But Miller does not believe Kendal want the victory more than Netherfield despite their neighbours already having tasted cup success.

"Both teams will be fully prepared for the match," said Miller who will be without Darren Braithwaite and Stu Parkin. "But I think our advantage is that we are the underdogs and all the pressure will be on Netherfield.

"It will be a fascinating contest and there will be plenty of personal battles going on. I think whoever wins those personal battles should go on a win."

Netherfield will have a full strength squad to call on which includes the return of John Mason - a teacher who lives and works in Switzerland.

"We won't be taking the competition lightly," said Brown. "It's a derby game, we want to win and we have the added motivation of avenging the defeat to Kendal in the league at our place earlier in the season.

"So we will be putting out our strongest team which will include John Mason. He will give us that extra bit of experience with the bat and ball so hopefully he can help us win and secure another cup final place.

"We have already won one cup competition already this season. It is a format of the game we are suited to. So we will be determined to win another trophy."