YORK Cricket Club have left a team spot available for batsman Duncan Snell.

The opener, the league's second highest run scorer, has yet to indicate whether he will play in the Clifton Park-based club's two crucial matches this weekend following the tragic death of his sister Gemma in a car accident.

York travel to table-topping Barnsley tomorrow in the Oxbridge Yorkshire ECB County premier division before going to Dunnington on Sunday for their rearranged National Knockout Cup tie.

Snell has scored 429 runs so far this season - at an average of 107. But he is still 265 runs behind his Australian opening partner Dan Wilson, who has scored 694.

Bowler Nick Kay said the events of the last week had put cricket into perspective.

Gemma, 19, of Huby, was killed when her Vauxhall Corsa left the road between Tollerton and Alne and hit a tree on Sunday. Six passengers were injured in the collision.

"There is a position (in the team) open for Duncan if he wants to take it," Kay explained.

"If he does not, Robert Flack will play against Barnsley. A few of us knew Gemma personally, we love Duncan to bits and we feel for him and his family.

"At the end of the day, it just puts everything into perspective. We are going into our toughest game of the season but we will walk away win, lose or draw.

"When we cross the white line we will want to win but it just makes you realise there's a bit more to life."

Graeme Tomlinson will open the batting for captain Marcus Wood's men, should Snell not play, but Wilson isn't eligible to play on Sunday, so all-rounder Flack comes in to shore up the batting.

A victory for York at Barnsley would pile the pressure on the South Yorkshire side, with the season beginning to take on a remarkably similar tint to last year when Barnsley swept into the leadership of the league only for York to overhaul them and claim the title.

Kay added: "It is starting to look very, very similar. We have often found that if we pile the pressure on the teams above us then they can crack. It is like where we were in 2002 and 2003.

"When you win it once, you know how to win it again. It would be nice if we can get a positive result.

"We are quietly confident we can put a run of wins together.

"Last Saturday's draw with Driffield was a big disappointment.

"We ought to have played better but otherwise we are playing some pretty good cricket at the moment."