High-five championship record beckons for York Cricket Club (From York Press)

High-five championship record beckons for York Cricket Club

10:27am Friday 2nd September 2011 in Yorkshire League By Steve Carroll, Sports reporter

IT’S simple for York Cricket Club tomorrow – beat Rotherham at Clifton Park and win the Solly Sports Yorkshire ECB County Premier League for an unprecedented fifth year in a row.

Captain Marcus Wood and his men know victory against the league’s second-placed side will hand them the crown, but he is expecting the toughest of games on home soil.

York go into the encounter with an 11-point advantage after Rotherham slipped to a surprise defeat against strugglers Appleby Frodingham last weekend.

And the Clifton Parkers have a full squad available to try to complete the task. Captain Wood, though, is taking absolutely nothing for granted – despite York’s comfortable eight-wicket win over the South Yorkshire side earlier in the season.

“We are focused on tomorrow and getting as much practice in as we can beforehand to make sure we are prepared and do ourselves justice,” said Wood. “They have got nothing to lose and neither have we.

“They will come a bit deflated that they lost their last game and with the knowledge that they need to give it their all. I expect them to come at us really hard.

“We have got a full squad to choose from and it will be very tough for selection as no one wants to be missing out in these games.”

Wood would not look ahead to the prospect of winning the game, concentrating on the present, and added it was difficult to compare this York team with other successful title-winning sides of the past.

But he acknowledged there had been a great effort from his team this year, following the loss of Australian runs-machine Dan Wilson at the end of last season and the integration of several new players.

“We haven’t achieved anything yet,” Wood warned. “We have to keep the team focused and trying to play the best we can. As long as we do ourselves justice in the last two games we can see that we are progressing these young lads.”