HOPES are high that York Cricket Club will have a successful season which gets underway tomorrow.

Competition for places is strong, particularly in the lower sides where young players are emerging from the club's 150 strong youth programme.

Marcus Wood again captains the first team whose opening Yorkshire County ECB Premier League fixture is tomorrow at Clifton Park against Harrogate.

The St George's Road club have been a force in the league for some years but financial constraints have limited their recruiting and they expect this season to very much one of rebuilding and consolidation.

York are not immune from change either as all-rounder Rob Flack is stepping down to skipper the second eleven in the Hunters York and District Senior League which also starts tomorrow.

His replacement is Lloyd Devlin, an Australian living in York and, being a pace bowling all-rounder, is a very similar article to Flack.

Ironically, Simon Mason returns from Harrogate to Clifton Park where he had several productive seasons. He replaces the heavy scoring Australian Dan Wilson.

In addition to Mason, York have a prolific quintet of Steve Piercy, Dan Broadbent, Nick Kay, Alex Collins and Duncan Snell who has recently been having trials at Essex.

Wood's challenge will be to bowl sides out which will be more difficult without the service of leg spinner Mark Bell, whose cricket will be limited by family commitments.

The tweaking department will be manned by Piercy and Broadbent and it is to be hoped the latter will rediscover the form that earned him an England Under-19 cap only a couple of years ago.