We are delighted to shine the spotlight on Cumbria Over 50s County Side with this fantastic piece by the team’s captain, Paul “Chief” McKeown, who has built the team over the past 10 years.

The County Over 50s has been going since 1985. The great and the good from the North Lancashire, Northern, Cumbria, Eden Valley and Westmoreland Leagues have worn the county colours with pride over the years, playing in a very competitive ECB affiliated County Championship.

There are 39 Counties involved, plus The Channel Islands, all placed into five leagues of eight teams geographically split. The best 16 counties progress to a knockout stage with a final at the end of it all.

Cumbria play in League One with Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire & Northumberland.

It is fair to say that this is probably one of, if not the strongest, league in the competition. In fact, the winners of the last six County Championships have come from League One.

There is also an England Over 50s side captained by David Snellgrove (Lancashire 50s Captain), who I have locked horns with over the last few years, who has just lifted the Over 50s World Cup. This competition is littered with former professionals and international players, testament to the interest levels that 50s cricket generates and the quality of the players now wanting to be involved. An Over 40s and 60s World Cup is now being planned on the back of the 50s success.

I have been involved with the team for 10 years, captaining it for eight, and over that time it’s fair to say that, in the early days, Cumbria struggled with both player availability and depth, meaning we had to forfeit many fixtures because of lack of players and an unwillingness to travel. Many of the counties have a huge playing pool to draw from and even have trials to go through before selection of the final eleven is made. Yes, it is as serious and competitive as that!

I realised that if we wanted to raise the profile of the team, attract players and actually get players to commit to play (these games are on Wednesday so holidays need to be taken), then a concerted effort was needed to have a “call to arms” across the county through talking to all the contacts we have across the leagues and introduce people to 50s cricket, educate them as to what this competition was all about and build a “band of brothers”.

So word of mouth via existing players, former players and umpires, as well as setting up social media outlets (although some of the players have no idea what that is let alone how to use it!) and making contact with Bob Simpson and his team at the Cumbria Cricket Board was initiated in order give 50s cricket a shot in the arm.

Yes, there were the inevitable “bumps in the road”, and “one step forward and two steps back” and those who said that you are “wasting your time, Chief”. I’ve never been one to take “no” as the only answer, so buoyed by the excellent support of the group, in particular Colin Parker (Penrith CC) and my former opening bowler partner at Workington CC, Graeme Cross, we pushed on.

We became self-funding, got our own sponsorship and started to build a team.

The mission was simple – stop conceding fixtures (especially for the away games), look like a team, show some pride in wearing the county colours (an honour some had done in their younger days, but others in the group hadn’t) and get stuck in and win some games, earning the respect of the opposition.

As we stand now all these objectives have been achieved!

I am also very pleased to say that we have representatives from all the major leagues across our great county playing for us, all proud to wear our county colours.

We are no longer the worst team in the competition, and have won games in every season of the last six years, with sixth place being our best finish. Last season we had Kris Vever (Carlisle CC) finishing in the Top 10 in the league batting averages with a staggering 311 runs at an average of 51.83, not far behind him was Richard Bamber (Staffield CC) with 160 runs at an average 48.15.

Considering where we have been, to have these types of performances is an outstanding achievement. We have also had centurions in Andrew Whinn and Ian Clark and over half a dozen players register a score of 50 plus! Quite exceptional for a team that was once a laughing stock.

As I have said many times, the standard of cricket is very high, with many of the counties boasting former first class players, league professionals and over 50s internationals. Gone are the days of these being “social games”.

We have never reached the last 16 of the competition (for us means finishing in the top 4), but that is our goal and I see no reason why we can’t achieve it.

As we approach the 2023 season we have more “new blood” wanting to join our happy band. Through new Kit Director and Horse Racing Tipster, Colin Carter (Keswick CC), we have secured new sponsorship and kit, and we look forward to the season with great enthusiasm and anticipation!

Also, I have to thank the support of the grounds that we play our home fixtures at (Kirkby Stephen CC, Carlisle CC, Warton CC, Appleby CC and Keswick CC), the umpires organised ably by Graeme Cross, and a special mention to our scorer, umpire and groundsman, Ernie Brabbins, the poor lad… All great friends to us, we are very grateful!

I am immensely proud of all that has been achieved. All the objectives that were set early on have been met. Of course, it has been tough at times and I for one questioned whether or not it was worth the effort, but when you look at the team we have, the camaraderie built and the successes of individuals and, more importantly, the team’s achievements, then this has made it all worthwhile.

Age should never be a barrier to doing anything, never mind playing cricket, representative cricket at that. All the major counties have total commitment to this competition – in my opinion, so should we. The profile of 50s cricket needs to be part of the pathway for Cumbrian cricket.

So, a big heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed.

There are now 30 players in the pool and I am keen to encourage more to join our happy band, so if you are interested then please let me know via the Cumbria Cricket Board website or through Bob Simpson at the Board (Bob.Simpson@CumbriaCricket.co.uk).

Paul “Chief” McKeown (Cumbria Over 50s Captain).

A full list of the fixtures will be posted on the Cumbria Cricket Board website.