England star Ben Stokes’ memorable cricket day has left a legacy in West Cumbria, according to Cockermouth Cricket Club.

A team of England cricket legends, including Mark Ramprakash, Steve Harmison and Owais Shah, visited the Sandair club last Thursday to play in a fundraiser organised by Stokes, who is the club’s most famous son.

The day began with an Under-11 Kwik Cricket tournament which saw teams take part from across Cumbria, including Cockermouth, Workington, Whitehaven, Egremont and Penrith.

For one youngster, meeting Stokes was a real dream come true. Maddie Wood, 10, of Whitehaven, who played in the Kwik Cricket tournament, was gifted the shirt Stokes wore for his England Lions ODI debut.

She said: “It was overwhelming because he’s such a big inspiration for me.”

There was also a masterclass for youngsters before the main event, in which 12 players from Cockermouth took on the former England legends in an exciting fast-paced Twenty20 game.

Cockermouth Cricket Club spokesman Gareth White said the event, to support the club’s flood recovery, was a huge success and the feedback had been “tremendous”.

He added: “We hope the total is going to be somewhere in the region of £20,000, which would exceed our expectations.

“It was great to see Ben back and he got a great reception.

“He got a bit overawed at one point with so many people wanting his autograph but he had time in the evening to relax and it was good to catch up with him.

“I think it reached far beyond cricket. I’ve had emails from people who had never been to a match before but thought it was brilliant and said they were definitely going to come again.”

West Cumbria seemed to make a big impression on Ramprakash, who took to his Twitter account to describe Sandair as “amazing” and praise the “lovely people” who welcomed him and his team-mates to the area.

White captained the Cockermouth side that beat its star- littered opposition by five wickets and said it was surreal to have the international names on their field.

“Our plan was to restrict them as best as we could and then have a go,” he said.

“It worked pretty well and it’s the only way you can play when you’re up against guys who are that good.

“Alex Grainger batted brilliantly to get us over the line so I was absolutely delighted.”

Cricket fans and players from across the county descended on the ground for the big game.

Alan Wishart, 71, who plays for Cleator II, said he was hoping for a close game, and added: “It’s good for West Cumbria really, brilliant to see.”

On the day, the PCA team batted first, with Harmison and Mal Loye first to the crease.

With the fourth ball of the second over, Matthew Hodgson had Harmison caught by Andrew Dodds.

And, not to be outdone, seven balls later fellow opening bowler Jonny Norman got Loye caught by Nick Mandale.

For the next 10 overs Shah and Richard Blakey established a vital partnership of 58 before Blakey to fell to fraternal teamwork when Chris Hodgson took a catch off his younger brother Matthew’s bowling.

Shah punished the first ball bowled by left arm orthodox spinner Matthew Sempill for a massive six, but a few overs later he succumbed on 44 to a stumping by White when Sempill got one to turn past him as he advanced down the wicket.

PCA skipper Ramprakash and Mark Alleyne steadied the ship with a partnership of 29 before Sempill struck again, getting Ramprakash caught by Ian Buchanan.

Ajmal Shahzad was the sixth and last wicket to fall, caught by Tom Norman, and bowled Andrew Dodds, leaving Cockermouth with a target of 125 to win.

Ian Buchanan and Alex Grainger bravely took the shine off the new ball and had established a good opening partnership of 27 before Buchanan was bowled by Alleyne.

They say partnerships win matches and Grainger built a second of 41 with White before White was bowled by Shazhad.

Grainger’s third partnership of 25 with Sempill ended when Grainger was caught by Sajid Mahmood off Loye.

Grainger’s valuable 59 off 43 balls left the team score on 93. Two balls later Sempill was caught by Ramprakash off Loye.

Chris Hodgson was the last batsman to fall, bowled Loye, leaving the team nine short.

But up stepped Marcus Stables, 18 not out and Jonny Norman, 4 not out, to secure the 125th run with a couple of balls to spare.

Man of the match was Matthew Sempill.