HOPE will swing eternal at York Cricket Club as the bid to cling on to a title they have held for more than seven years gathers telling momentum.

The defeat last week to the Yorkshire Academy meant York’s record-breaking defence of their Solly Sports ECB County Yorkshire Premier League crown was out of their own hands.

For York to restore their flagging title charge they will have to win their Bank Holiday weekend’s triple-header, combined with a brace of defeats for their Academy arch-adversaries.

York host Scarborough tomorrow, then Castleford on Sunday before travelling to Sheffield United on Monday. The Academy aces are pitched into two difficult away games – at Rotherham and Doncaster.

Said skipper Dan Woods: “There’s definitely still hope even though the most upsetting thing is that it’s out of our own hands after last week’s loss to the Academy.

“We have to win every game now until the rest of the season and hope the Academy slip up.

“Their games at Rotherham and Doncaster are tough. Both those sides are always very competitive and there’s no reason to think they would not be the same against the Academy.”

Even if the Yorkshire ranks were to twice buckle, Woods conceded the other half of the equation was a hat-trick of wins on the spin over the holiday spell.

“We have to concentrate on our own performances,” he said.

“Three games in three days is a lot of cricket, but if we can win tomorrow against Scarborough then maybe we can get a bit of a roll on. Everything’s got to go for us, but you just don’t know.”

The last of York’s triple-test will introduce a father and son combination. With Tom Pringle unavailable for the Monday trip to Sheffield, York will debut 15-year-old off-spinner Ted Patmore, who has excelled for the seconds this summer.

The teenager’s dad, Dave, is already a stalwart of the York senior side and will also be in Monday’s line-up.