One of the Cumbria Cricket League’s most respected scorers has hung up his pencil.
Tim Kempster has been first-team scorer at Workington for 26 years and has announced his retirement from the role.
He scored for the last time at Furness on Sunday when Workington were beaten in the final of the league’s T20 competition.
Bristol-born Tim, 63, had intended to retire at the end of the 2020 season and informed the club he would be standing down.
“Because the season was incomplete I decided to go on for one more year, really to give myself a little bit more free time.
“To be truthful I probably wasn’t enjoying doing it as much as I had, and maybe because one or two mistakes were creeping in,” he told Cumbria Crack.
He had been an opening batsman for the club and moving to scoring was a natural progression when he knew it was time to stop playing.
“My grandfather taught me how to score when I was a young boy so it was always something I knew about and enjoyed,” he said.
“Towards the end of my playing career a lot of our matches didn’t have umpires and the lads had to take it in turns to don the white coat and do a bit in the middle.
“I absolutely detested umpiring so I used to take over the scorebook which the others were quite happy for me to do.
“From there I moved to scoring for the second team and then the first team scorer Ged Cunningham asked to swap roles which we did in 1996,” he said
The rest as they say is history and since then Tim reckons he has scored over 600 matches.
Does one, in particular, stand out he was asked?
“Definitely,” he said. “August 2, 2005. I had watched England beat Australia by three runs at Edgbaston and then scored Workington’s Higson Cup final at Cleator against Keswick.
“Simon Beare hit 215 as Workington made 397-7 in 45 overs. It was an incredible innings, the best I’ve seen live.”
In precise detail, without the need to consult, he reveals that Beare faced 117 deliveries, hit 17 fours and 16 sixes. Needless to say, Workington went on to win.
Winning the league in 2007 was also a highlight, surpassed only by the first team’s achievements in 2016 when they won the treble without losing a game – the league, the County Cup and the Higson Cup.
In a Tweet, the Workington club said: “This weekend saw our main man – and in our humble opinion – the finest scorer in the land, Tim Kempster bow out after over a quarter of a century.
“That is a truly remarkable level of service and commitment to the club.
“Through thick and thin he’s been an ever-present across that period. As a club, we simply cannot operate without people like Tim and we will be eternally grateful for all the time he has given us.”
