An afternoon relaxing in the sun under the backdrop of Dent while watching a good cricket match, seemed like an offer we couldn’t refuse. So last weekend we paid a visit to "God’s Garden" as Youth Development Officer Ian Clark describes it.
For a village club, built mainly from local players, Cleator Cricket Club has a proud history and have been one of the premier cricket teams in this county for over 37 years, winning 17 league titles and 25 cups.
"Our first team are going through a bit of a transition period this year," their Youth Development Officer, Ian Clark explains. "We have lost several players including Darren Clark who has been one of our main batsmen over the last 4 years, he has moved to Barrow to try his hand at the Northern League. This has given us a chance to blood some of our many talented youngsters. Graham Clark (15) has replaced his brother in the opening berth and has already hit a couple of 40s and a 68. Steven Carson (17) a fast scoring middle order bat has already won us a game this season and David Blackwell (16) has quickly stepped up to open the bowling slot and is coming along nicely. We are still challenging for league honours and are only 32 points off the top.
"Unfortunately we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the Higson Cup quarter final last week, so we have now relinquished our grip on both Cups we won last year," he admits. However, the club is building the foundations of a strong future. Their 2nd team, are holding their own in the NL&CL first division and are in two cup semi finals, with a mix of experience and youth guided by the evergreen Alan Wishart. Their third eleven is superbly handled by Alan Hocking and are now unbeaten in almost three seasons and look like becoming Cumbria league champions again for the 3rd year running. "We use the third team to bring our juniors along and then introduce them to a better standard, Ian explains.

Their opponents at the weekend were Furness, and although the sun refused to shine on overcast afternoon it was Cleator who took the initiative when put in to bat first. Even after losing their professional, Paul Duffett, early for 36 brisk runs, their middle order struck back fiercely, with Jordan Clark scoring 81 and Robert Mower 71 ,helping their side to amass 274 for 8. They then restricted Furness to 128 for 7, Graham Clark claiming 2 wickets for a niggardly 34 runs.