A CRICKET club in a Teesdale village is raising money to buy the ground it has played on for more than 125 years.

Lands Cricket Club, near Cockfield, is hoping to buy the ground from the landowner, Durham County Council.

The county council is selling off its green estate and Lands cricket pitch is one of the areas for sale.

Club officials believe that buying the ground could give the club a new lease of life.

The club, which plays in the Darlington and District Cricket League, knows it needs to raise more than £4,000 to make the purchase.

Club chairman Carroll Simpson said although he was confident the money could be raised, it was going to be hard work because there are only 40 houses in the village.

He said: "But we do very well for our size and I think it's because we've got people who are prepared to put the work in.

"At the moment, the first team is top of its division and the second team has just won the league cup and is second in its division.

"However, once we own the ground, we'll be able to get grants and things that we never got before.

"Ideally, we could do with better facilities and this could help us to get those." The ground is currently leased from the county council by Evenwood and Barony Parish Council, which sub-lets it to the cricket club.

A spokesman for the county council said there was no deadline for the sale.

He said: "At the moment our negotiations are with the parish council, who are the existing leaseholders.

"The county council is selling off its green estate, which are farms and smallholdings and allotments, here and there that we no longer consider necessary.

"This is part and parcel of our current policy, which has been in existence for a good while."

As part of its fundraising campaign, the club is holding a race might at the Queen's Head pub, in Cockfield, on Friday, August 19, at 8.30pm. Pie and peas supper will be £2.