RADCLIFFE'S players need to show a greater commitment on the training field if they are to end their winless start to the league season.

That is the damning indictment of captain Martyn Coates following the Radcliffe's eighth defeat in 11 matches in Division Two of the Greater Manchester League.

The basement club were comprehensively beaten at league leaders Stand on Saturday, although the players did show plenty of fight in the seven-wicket defeat.

While the two clubs were a class apart, Radcliffe's batting line-up did not fold in the face of a superior attack.

They battled their way to 102, using up 42.5 of their 45 allotted overs.

And after Connor Gately (1-20) struck to reduce the home side to 30-1, Adam Sajewicz (2-31) denied Stand's in-form batsmen Matty Holt (35) and Danish Ateeq (33) the chance to knock off the winning runs.

But Coates believes his players are capable of more.

"In an ideal world, the club would have more money to pay for players, but I believe the squad has enough quality in it to be doing a lot better than we are now," he said.

"Yes our batsmen hung around at the crease for longer, but a lot of them still threw their wickets away with loose shots or silly mistakes.

"I believe these are mistakes that can be eradicated in training, but only if the players show a lot more commitment than they are now."

Coates was happy to admit that attendance at weekly training sessions has been low, but accepts that the sessions could have been organised better.

"We have been talking in the dressing room about what we can do to improve, and I think we all agree that training sessions could be better structured," he added.

"There needs to be a structure to them so we can highlight the mistakes players are making and get them to work on them individually, which is not really happening.

"But that requires a degree of commitment from the players as well.

"I appreciate that this is an amateur sport, people have families and the like, but if we can't all manage to train for an hour-and-a-half every Tuesday then we are not going to improve."

Radcliffe travel to Droylsden on Saturday for the start of the second half of the season.

And while there are clearly tensions behind the scenes as they search for that debut win, Coates believes there is a healthy dialogue in the dressing room as they search for an answer to their problems.

"The good thing is that everyone is asked for their opinion, and they are entitled to it," he said.

"I am willing to listen to ideas from every member of the team because often those who don't speak out regularly often are the ones who have the best ideas."