CASTLEFORD can expect no mercy as York Cricket Club look to keep putting the hammer down in the Solly Sports Yorkshire ECB County Premier League tomorrow.

The struggling West Yorkshire side host a Clifton Park outfit who are trying hard to tie up their seventh straight league title with half the season still to go.

A seven-wicket victory over Scarborough last weekend, helped by another fabulous knock in the 90s by the league’s top performing batsman, Jack Leaning, means York are nine points clear of the chasing Yorkshire Academy.

Leaning boasts an average of 135.86 this season and has already scored 951 runs. York also boast the league’s leading wicket-taker in skipper Dan Woods, who has snared 54 victims this season at a strike rate of a shade over 21.

Having hit 318 and still lost against Drakes Huddersfield League side Hoylandswaine in the semi-finals of the Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions Trophy last Sunday, York will be eager to get back to winning ways against a Castleford outfit with only one complete victory to their name all season.

Captain Dan Woods said: “We are in a good position in the league but it is still all to play for. Castleford is not an easy place to go and they have got some experienced players with some younger lads. We keep saying it, but there are no easy games.”

Having endured a busy start to the campaign which has seen York play virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last two months, Woods also said this weekend’s solitary game may bring some benefits to his squad.

“It’s a huge commitment to play for the first team,” he added. “There’s a lot of travelling and a lot of cricket when you think about training and preparing as well.

“We would love to be playing cricket every Saturday and Sunday in every competition, but this may give us an opportunity to rest up.

“It was devastating to lose such a fantastic game of cricket last Sunday but it is going to make us stronger and more committed.”

Batsman Simon Lambert, bowler Glen Richmond and youngster Charlie Elliot are all in the side, in place of Nigel Durham, Alex Collins and Oliver Hairs.