JUST two years after surviving relegation to division three by a single stroke, University of York Staff have become the best team in the HPH York Vale Cricket League.

It has been a spectacular rise which few would have predicted on the final Saturday of the 2007 season when they were locked in a division two dogfight with opponents Stockton & Hopgrove.

Whoever lost would go down – and Uni snatched victory with a boundary off the very last ball of the summer.

It was a turning point in the club’s brief 13-year history. Staff regrouped, won last year’s second division to go up to the top flight for the first time and continued their charge by winning the championship by 23 points from Clifton Alliance, who came up with Uni last year.

Staff have produced some outstanding performances with Afaq Ahmad, a biology postgraduate, hitting the headlines with back-to-back centuries of 102 and 174 against Barmby Moor and Drax respectively in August to speed the side towards the title.

The university’s link up with universities in Pakistan and India has seen a steady flow of players from Asia in the Staff side and the current crop are clearly the best they have had.

Club chairman Jim Brannigan said: “It has taken time for some of them to get used to our conditions and the way we play. But we have learned a lot from them about being positive.”

Opener Mumtaz Hussain is a typical example as he seeks to attack the bowling from the very first delivery.

Both he and Ahmad have had some spectacular innings, but all-rounder Salman Syed has been the most consistent player, scoring 746 runs, holding 13 catches – both club records – and taking 26 wickets.

Salman’s younger brother, Usman, has also made a valuable contribution in Staff’s charge to the title in his final season with the club.

The side, skippered by James Fenton, are determined to defend their title in style next season even though Afaq Ahmad and Salman Syed will have returned home after completing their post-grad courses.

“We have no intention to move to Senior League level. We like the Vale League and its 40-overs-a-side format,” said Brannigan.

Staff have become one of the more established sides in the league after starting life as a chemistry department side playing friendlies against the likes of pub sides Cock and Bottle and Golden Ball.

They joined in 1997 when the league had four divisions and had spent most of their time in the lower divisions until their recent rapid rise which has culminated in the championship.

They have become the sixth different club to etch their name on the championship trophy in as many years following Barmby Moor (2008), Hemingbrough (2007), Drax (2006), Bishopthorpe (2005) and Norwich Union (2004).

Staff will receive their silverware at the league’s annual dinner and presentation evening on Saturday, October 3, at the Royal York Hotel.