Cumbria County Under-17’s are gearing-up for the ECB County Championship Northern Division Three season which starts next month.

They will open their programme in Scotland at the Greenock club which is pictured alongside.

There are five games scheduled and the Cumbrians will be hoping for better weather5 than last year, which played a key part in them being relegated.

They actually went down by a single point, due to losing 370 overs during the season through inclement weather.

In fact if they had pressed home the advantage in a match against Leicestershire when their number eleven batsman was dropped twice, a win would have seen the side promoted – the competition was as close as that.

The Under-17’s have just completed a warm-up match at Penrith against the XL Club and they won it by 52 runs.

The county side reached 202-9 in their 50 overs with major contributions from Eddie Read of Settle (58no); Alex Atkinson of Penrith (46) and Jon Miles of Barrow (45).

The XL Club relied heavily on Ted Whitehead (71) and were bowled-out for 150.

The Under-17’s included four players from last season plus eight fringe players who selectors wished to have a look at. The final squad of 16 will be selected from 26 players who attended winter coaching.

The Championship matches this season are: Wed/Thurs 2/3 July v Scotland at Greenock CC; Thurs/Frid 17/18 July v Cambridgeshire at Warton CC; Wed/Thurs 23/24 July v Northumberland at South Northumberland CC;  Wed/Thurs 30/31 July v Norfolk at Whitehaven CC and Wed/Thurs 13/14 Aug v Suffolk at Netherfield CC. Play begins at 11am each day.

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