It’s not every day you get to display your potential in front of the England cricket captain!
But 16-year-old Josh Brown did for Cockermouth against champions Furness in the Cumbria League’s Premier Division with Ben Stokes in attendance.
Stokes was back at Sandair to catch up with some old friends and watch a bit of cricket as his former club tried to keep pace with Carlisle at the top of the table.
Thanks to young Brown they were able to stay on their tails with a fine seven-wicket win over the south Cumbrians, to set up a tasty home Higson Cup quarter final with unbeaten Carlisle this afternoon.
Furness had won the toss and opted to bat with Cockermouth’s overseas amateur Mikyle Louis striking an early blow by bowling Joe Amison for nought.
Young Brown then took over to remove four of the top five, including Cumbria opener Sam Dutton who had held firm longest with 29.
Garry Thompson (31) tried to rally the Furness tail but they never really recovered from 48-5, with Brown the chief destroyer and were eventually bowled-out for 101 in 46 overs.
Brown finished with the remarkable figures of 8-1-14-5, receiving good support from Matthew Siddall who took 2-11 from his ten overs.
Although they lost Gareth White cheaply, Cockermouth were carried to victory on 103-3 from 22.3 overs with skipper Matthew Sempill (39no), Alex Grainger (21), Tom Norman (21) and Louis finishing it off with 11 not out from four balls. Including a six and a four.
Brown is also a member of the successful Cockermouth Under-16s football team and four team-mates were there to support him – and also get themselves a photo memento with the England cricket captain!
Stokes made a point, too, of meeting up with David Southward and his wife Rose from Workington. It was David’s father Ike who persuaded Ben’s father, Ged Stokes, to join Workington Town as coach – which ultimately, has changed the future of English cricket.
