Saturday's stunning eight-wicket victory over Doncaster, allied to York's shock defeat against lowly Driffield, has put John Randerson's side just six points behind the the long-time leaders with five matches remaining.
And with Cas saving their best for the business end of the season, skipper Randerson believes the championship race will go to the wire.


"It was a good weekend for us," he said. "There is still a long way to go but we will go into the final part of the season full of confidence.
"We have managed to stay in the top half of the league all summer, without playing as well as we can. In the last few weeks our performances have been excellent, with players coming into form at just the right time.


" The title is still York's to lose but if we can maintain our current standards, we will push them all the way."
Excellent
Doncaster, who elected to bat first, made a steady start through openers James Stuart (19 off 62 deliveries) and Graham Attenborough. But skipper Attenborough's demise to the excellent Chris Young sparked a dramatic collapse that saw the home side slump to 50-8.


Late hitting by Kashif Raza (17) and Dom McGough (24) gave the innings a boost but 93 never looked like being enough.
Young bowled magnificently to claim 6-30 from 15 overs, five of which were maidens. He was backed up some excellent work in the field, with Shaun Le Roux and David Wainwright both taking fine catches.


Pakistani quickie Raza bowled a hostile opening spell but Cas openers Stephen Sacks and David Murphy played superbly to weather the storm. The pair put on 87 for the first wicket before both fell to the impressive Raza (2-36) just shy of the target.
Wainwright and Luke Patel finished the job.
As well as York's surprise defeat, fourth-place Rotherham missed two chances to make ground on the top three. They came unstuck at Yorkshire Academy on Saturday and against Barnsley the following day.