FORMER England Test cricketer Alex Tudor awaits in-form York when the Clifton Parkers host West Indian Cavaliers in the ECB National Club Championship area final on Sunday.

The 32-year-old pace ace opens the bowling for the Nottinghamshire Premier League side following a 14-year county career which took in spells at Surrey and Essex.

Tudor played ten Test matches for England between 1998 and 2002, claiming 28 wickets, and also played in three one-day internationals – taking four wickets.

It is another big test for York’s batsmen, who have already faced and seen off ex-England bowlers Phil DeFreitas and Dean Headley in the competition – albeit with the help of a coin toss against Papplewick and Linby.

But the Shipton Road side have not been defeated in any competition all season and Nick Kay, York club secretary, says the team are looking forward to the challenge.

“They will be a very good side,” he said. “They are contending for their own championship but we are playing well – more so with the ball than the bat. We know Alex Tudor opens the bowling but, apart from that, we don’t know a lot about them. We are certainly looking to challenge ourselves against them.”

First, York travel to Rotherham tomorrow in the Solly Sports Yorkshire ECB County Premier League – a place where Kay and the side have not performed well in recent years.

“They are the form team in the league, apart from ourselves,” he added. “They have won six or seven games on the bounce and are up to fifth in the table.

“It’s a big game for us as we haven’t played our best cricket there over the last four or five years. We have played all the top end of the league at home so the challenge now is to replicate those performances away.”

York will have to do it without wicket-keeper Nigel Durham, who is replaced by Andy Billington.

Alex Collins is also missing and is replaced by Peter Groves.

Durham returns against the Cavaliers.