SOMETIMES, success is not all about winning titles.

Often, an achievement can be just as worthy when judged in the context of a team’s season.

That is certainly the case with batsman Max Young, without whose efforts Droitwich could well have found themselves relegated from Worcestershire Divi-sion One.

The 22-year-old, who has been named Worcester News Cricketer-of-the-Year as a result, racked up 906 runs for the St Peter’s Field side’s first XI throughout the 2013 campaign, including two centuries and six scores over 50.

Young’s total, which was the ninth best in the entire competition, also saw him hit 29 fours and 13 sixes for an average of 43.14.

Crucially, he made 127 against Burghill and Tillington in Au-gust that set up a 142-run victory and led to Spa finishing fourth-from-bottom in the table, one place above their opponents.

It has proved even more significant given that Burghill now look certain to drop into Division Two as three teams are poised to be relegated to accomodate Evesham and Worcester Nomads from the Birmingham League.

Young, who wins a hand-made Fearnley Factory shop bat, admits it has been a good year on a personal level even if Droitwich have, in his view, under-achieved.

He said: “It’s been my best season, I had a good one a couple of years ago but this has been the best so far. I have been fairly consistent all year.

“As batsmen, we have been lucky because the weather has held and it’s made the pitches better. Last year was a wash-out. The aim next year has got to be to score 1,000 runs on a Saturday.

“The highlight was scoring 105 against Worcester, although we lost, but then scoring the 127 against Burghill which gave us the points cushion above them.”

Young, whose brother Jake also plays for Martyn Davies’ team, added: “I believe we have got the potential to be a Birmingham League side, but it’s been a hard season for us.

“There has been good banter in the dressing room the whole season, even though we haven’t played well, we have stuck together and that’s down to the captain.

“He’s had a hard season but we haven’t had a big fall-out, everbody’s stuck with it and fought to the end.

“We beat Redditch in the last game and everybody chipped in, that’s what we have got to aim for. It’s a shame it took 22 games for that to happen.”

Young, who also took 16 wickets with the ball including 4-45 against Worcester in August, was similarly pivotal for the Spa Sunday team, compiling 284 runs as they claimed third place in the Worcestershire League First XI South.