The Eden Valley Cricket League not surprisingly had its origins in the Eden Valley area of North East Cumbria but has now burst its banks to take in clubs in the Keswick area and going north has extended into Scotland. League tables on the excellent website show Carlisle II top of the Premiership and looking at the Sunday League, Dumfries situated almost thirty miles into Scotland, head a table at the foot of which are Penrith, a 53 mile drive from 'Queen of The South'. A weekend away in the Lake District gave me the opportunity to sample cricket in this part of the world for the first time.
Little more than ten minutes drive from our hotel lies the village of Caldbeck, population just over 700 formerly the home of huntsman John Peel and now his last resting place. The cricket ground is at the east end of the village and to make the most of the small playing area, boundary and perimeter fence are contiguous but there is an excellent vantage point which affords this view of a lovely ground.
As we arrived the first innings was drawing to its close and an enquiry addressed to one of those in the box seats got the slightly tentative reply that he thought it was Caldbeck. And so it was with high flying Carlisle II the visitors. The home side closed their forty overs on 206 for 9 with opener Robert Benn top scorer and eighth out for 82. During the interval I had chat with the Caldbeck scorer whose son Matthew had made 11 not out. Matthew, who needs to do a bit of work on his ramp shot if he is to avoid a trip to the dentist, will play for Cumbria Under 15s at Ampleforth in early August. His mum is rightly proud of the range of teams the club puts out at weekends and midweek, the seconds had been deprived of a game on Saturday when Penrith III had conceded. The club website welcomes readers with the message that Town End is a ground 'where a six can be hit into the hay field, the river, or if you a big lad into the churchyard'.
The feeling amongst the cognoscenti at tea was that on such a small ground 206 was 'gettable' and so it proved but only only just for Carlisle got home off the last ball with four wickets in hand to go top. By then Liz and I were back in the shade of the hotel gardens but I came away from Caldbeck feeling that for all cricket's woes I had seen the game played in good spirit and been warmly welcomed by a club who must be doing a lot right. Thank you Caldbeck and long may it continue
2 comments:
Thanks for a great report on our lovely ground, our fab scorer (Jayne) and the exciting match. Fab to have such a glowing review!!!
Look forward to welcoming you back at Caldbeck anytime, or any other of the picturesque grounds in the Eden Valley.
Thank you, comments are a rarity on our blog and it is encouraging when somebody takes the trouble. My colleague Tony is a much more seasoned traveller in Cumbria than me but I will be back.
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