Teams of cricketers aged 40 and over from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies and Bermuda – all regular performers in this form of the game – will play against English combinations, but there are high hopes that others from France, Holland, Spain and possibly Denmark will join in for the first time since the Golden Oldies movement began almost
30 years ago.

Those beginnings were in New Zealand and – hardly surprisingly in a land where rugby dominates the sporting scene – it was the 15-a-side game which provided the inspiration. Former All Black Tom Johnson visited Canada and discovered that impressive numbers of former rugby players there and in the United States remained in their chosen sport in veterans' competitions.

The first Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival was held in Auckland in 1979 and since then cricket, netball, hockey and football have embraced the concept. There have been 13 cricket festivals, the first in 1984 and most recent earlier this year in Queenstown, the gem of New Zealand's South Island. Previous English hosts have been Brighton (1986) and Birmingham (1994).

In two years' time, it will be the turn of Harrogate and the Nidderdale League, formed in 1894 and now an organisation with 50 clubs and 96 teams, to welcome their guests. The president of the league is Sir Thomas Ingilby and he has now taken on the role of Festival Chairman for the 2010 event.

He is clearly an enthusiast for a form of cricket he encountered at first-hand in Queenstown. The Nidderdale League had previously been asked to put together an application to host the "Vintage Cricket" tournament in 2010 but their bid was submitted too late so, rather than waste all their hard work, they decided to try for the Golden Oldies' event.

"We had been working on our application for two years, there was tremendous enthusiasm in the area for it to go ahead," said Sir Thomas who, in the spirit of cricketing adventure, decided to fly to New Zealand for the Festival in March, three weeks after his team had been told their application to stage the 2010 event had been successful, beating a rival bid from Florida.

"I arrived terribly jet-lagged but was asked by an Australian team – the Brookfield Brumbies from Brisbane – if I fancied a game. I said I would be delighted to play if they could find me the kit. I hadn't played for some years apart from a father-and-sons match but the jet-lag had a wonderful effect on my cricket – I have never played so well.

"Our skipper, a typical Australian nugget, insisted that we were all there for fun and added that the man making the wittiest comment during the game would be treated to a free drink. But we were not to forget we were playing a South African team – 'so let's stuff the b*****ds'."

The opposition were to include former Test batsman Barry Richards in their line-up. "Thankfully he was called away to India to work for TV, so were spared chasing the ball through a hot afternoon," recalls Sir Thomas.

Even the great Richards, though, would have had to retire when he had reached 35 runs. That is one of the rules of Golden Oldies cricket. Others stipulate that no-one can be dismissed first ball ("we have flown too far to suffer that"), a batsman has to be stationary, plumb in front of the stumps, to be given out lbw and bowlers' run-ups are limited to a maximum of 10m. The only age criterion is that players must be over 40. Teams are asked when they apply to play what standard they would claim to be and the opposition for their three matches is allocated accordingly.

"One elderly guy came in to bat against us and he clearly couldn't run," said Sir Thomas. "We kept him in for 20 minutes; we were diving over the ball, doing anything to keep him at the wicket. We all had a great time."

Results of the matches are not published, there is no winning team at the end of the week; the aims are to have fun, see the world and make friends among people who share interests – and love of cricket.

Which brings us nicely to the benefits for the Harrogate area of hosting the Festival. Unlike competitors in Test cricket, World Cups, the Olympic Games and other major international competitions, those taking part in the Festival have no aspirations to be the best in the world. No gym work or warm-ups and downs for them. And when the 40-overs-side matches are finished they want to enjoy themselves along with their partners or wives.

Sir Thomas and his organising committee have already mapped out an impressive entertainment package for their guests – including a welcome party at Theakston's Brewery in Masham, a picnic at historic Ripley Castle, where Sir Thomas will be the host, and a gala dinner for more than 1,200 guests.

Harrogate's hotels have been block-booked – by coincidence there are no conferences or exhibitions planned for the Festival week – and details of all the great traditional Yorkshire attractions will be included in the welcome pack for the travellers.

Players' partners will also have details of the nearby shopping magnets of Leeds and York as well as Harrogate, and the restaurants of the host town can expect a lucrative week.

After their matches at many of the club grounds of the Nidderdale League and possibly beyond, the visitors will be encouraged to stay and chat to their hosts, preferably in the pavilion bar or, where necessary, in the village local. "They have been known to be extremely thirsty, these Aussies and Kiwis," said Sir Thomas. There is even the possibility that some teams will arrive in Yorkshire early and look to play warm-up matches against village teams in the days before the Festival starts. Any club or combination of clubs interested in becoming involved should contact Sir Thomas.

A special volunteer is also required. "We need a Festival Ambassador for the week," said Sir Thomas. "He would preferably be a former Yorkshire and England cricketer whose duties would principally be to attend the opening ceremony and the grand finale dinner, although he would be most welcome to join us for the matches and the other functions if he could spare the time".

The Festival Ambassador at Queenstown earlier his year was the great New Zealand batsman Glenn Turner whose message to his guests was simple: "The only sledging we have in the Southern Lakes region is during the winter on the slopes. Welcome to our place and, with all we have in store for you, if you don't enjoy yourself it will be your own fault."

Sir Thomas and his team have so far attracted sponsorship of over £17,500 – the Yorkshire Tourist Board, Bettys Café Tea Rooms, Taylor's Yorkshire Tea and Harrogate's hoteliers are already aboard along with long-standing supporters Air New Zealand – and hope to take that to £30,000. He estimates the benefits to the region will be at least £750,000 and could, if the hoped-for interest from up to 12 countries rather than the seven who played in Queenstown materialises, reach £1.25m.

All that from a few hundred cricketers who love their game too much to put away their whites for the last time and who have the enthusiasm – as well as the wherewithal – to mix playing the game with seeing the world, making friends and maybe visiting relatives in the old country.

But for many of them the ultimate inspiration to travel to North Yorkshire comes from the widely-held belief that this is the home of cricket; until you have played the game in Yorkshire you cannot be complete.

The Golden Oldies World Cricket Festival will be staged from August 8-14, 2010.

Clubs that might like to host one or more friendly matches against international teams during the first week of August, clubs who would like to offer their ground for matches, or people who would like to help organise the Festival or offer sponsorship should contact sirthomas@ripleycastle.co.uk

Teams interested in signing up to play in the Festival can do so via www.goldenoldiessports.com