9:41am Friday 11th March 2005
By Gazette Sports
CUMBERLAND County Cricket Club are back in profit after two years of heavy losses as they celebrate 50 years of Minor Counties cricket in 2005.
Cumberland chairman Alan Wilson will officially give the news at Cumberland CC's annual meeting at the Crooklands Hotel, Kendal, tonight (Friday).
A sportsman's dinner organised by John Richardson and a cash draw have seen an upturn in the club's finances, he reports.
The outcome is a small profit of £262 after a loss of £3,772 in 2003.
But, says Mr Wilson, the MCCA have announced that funding from the English Cricket Board will result in each Minor County receiving £2,000 less in 2005.
And with the Minor Counties being ousted from the prestigious C & G Trophy from the 2006 season - thus losing any possibility of a money-spinning match against a First-Class county - the attempt to stay on an even keel financially will be "a constant battle."
Mr Wilson congratulates Cumberland's skipper Marcus Sharp and the cricket committee for a successful season in 2004, despite the disappointment of failing to qualify for the C & G.
Bad weather for the final match at Carlisle intervened and put paid to any chance of qualifying, he reports.
But Cumberland player Ian Hunter signed a two-year contract with Derbyshire and Dean Williams won the Minor Counties' wicket-keeping award for the most dismissals.
Official condolences went to the families of the late Albert Clapperton and David Wheatman, two ex-players and servants of the county "of great calibre and character".
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