Several years have passed since Steve Harmison led England's bowling attack with hostile pace and bounce, yet it is still unusual to see the former fast bowler with pads on, bat in hand, walking out to open an innings.

Harmison is somehow at the top of the order for the PCA England Masters XI and, against Cockermouth, does not last long. Back on the balcony, he cradles a pint and winks when asked about his short batting cameo.

"I'm always in and out in no time," he says. "It's great! That's the sole purpose of today."

The joke is easily made, because the day's real purpose is visible all around the Raymond Denham Oval. The game between the team of former England stalwarts and the host club's first XI is the centrepiece of an occasion hosted by Ben Stokes, and more than 1,500 people have come to watch.

It is both a fundraising opportunity for a club hit hard by Storm Desmond's floods in 2015, and a homecoming for Stokes. Now one of international cricket's leading players, and surely its most potent all-rounder, the 26-year-old wanted to give something back to the place he still knows as home.

The PCA Masters team is an entertaining blend of ageing talent. Mark Ramprakash's princely batting and Graham Onions' miserly bowling are given stages such as Sandair, while the team facing Cockermouth also includes Sajid Mahmood, Alex Tudor, Mal Loye, Owais Shah, Warren Hegg, Richard Blakey, Mark Alleyne and a bowler still in the first-class game, Ajmal Shahzad.

Harmison, though, is the most distinctive; bearded and thicker-set than in his days as the long-limbed paceman who helped blast England to the 2005 Ashes, but still recognisable as someone who was, for a time, rated the world's best Test bowler.

Earlier in the day the 38-year-old had hosted a knockabout question-and-answer session involving Stokes and another star of Durham, Paul Collingwood. On the balcony, as others continue the PCA innings, he is more reflective on a day that means a lot to Stokes and to Cockermouth.

Was Harmison aware of the flooding that swept onto the Sandair ground? "Oh, yeah," he says. "Ben didn't have to explain it. We've seen it. I live no more than two hours away. I know what happened.

"I remember this place. I actually played here 28 years ago, as an 11-year-old. I actually played against the captain [Cockermouth's Gareth White] - he was playing for Cumbria Under-11s against Northumberland Under-11s."

How did the junior Harmison fare on that Cumbrian day? "I can't remember what happened 20 minutes ago," he says. "How did I get out again?

"It's a long, long time," he adds. "But I've really enjoyed seeing Cockermouth again. And these days are great days. People might think they're a chore for us, but they're not. You see people you haven't played with for a long time, and hopefully help put some smiles on faces. I don't think anyone can go away from here not having had a great day."

Harmison spent a long time sat with Stokes as the game unfolded, also chatting to the all-rounder's fiancee Clare and their young children, Layton and Libby. "The boy wonder," as Harmison calls him, is now back in the thick of an England Test series, with the current day-nighter against West Indies having started yesterday.

"He has done a lot of work, he's given a bit of time, asked a few favours but, to be fair, a lot of people ask favours of him," says Harmison. "So we've come here to support somebody who has been here as a young lad."

Roots are an important part of Harmison's story, for the "Ashington Express" is known for his connection to that Northumberland town almost as much as his cricketing name. It is for this reason that he admires what Stokes has done to repay the club that helped set him on his way.

"This area has helped Ben Stokes to be the person he is," Harmison says. "I do a lot with Ashington Cricket Club as a thank-you, because of what they did for me. Ben Stokes is doing exactly the same thing here, and credit to him. The money it generates, the feel-good factor, will take Cockermouth cricket to a whole new level."

Children, offering miniature cricket bats to sign, queue to meet Stokes throughout the day. At times the 26-year-old is besieged by admiring people. "Me and Alex Tudor were talking about this before," Harmison says. "We grew up with Andrew [Flintoff], with Freddie, and we've never seen anything like this since then. The buzz.

"There have been a lot of comparisons with Andrew, and Sir Ian Botham, and Ben Stokes. The actual feel-good factor, when they're around, is huge. Long may that continue."

Stokes has matured in recent years, vice-captain of his country and one of the world's best players rather than the talented but fiery prospect who occasionally fell into controversial headlines.

Not for nothing was Stokes' recent autobiography entitled Firestarter and subtitled 'Me, cricket and the heat of the moment', yet increasingly it is opposing international teams who are being burned.

Harmison has watched him grow. "I saw that change when Ben had children," he says. "When Layton was born [in October 2012, when Stokes was 21] - that's when Ben Stokes changed as a person.

"His cricket was always going to go to a new level, but in terms of your lifestyle…you do grow up a little bit when you have kids, and he did. That coincided with him going from a very, very good prospect with a lot of potential to a world-class performer."

Harmison places deep importance on the personal happiness of a frontline cricketer. Even at his peak with England, the bowler fought depression, as long overseas tours sometimes worsened the pain. He continues to deal with the condition but his open nature on this and associated subjects is a service to the game.

"People have got to remember," he says, "sports stars are human beings. They've got feelings. Sometimes they have good days, sometimes they have bad days. And it's about getting over the bad days and over the mistakes.

"So far, Ben has taken everything in his stride very well. But credit also has to go to his family. His mam and dad [Deb and Ged] are two wonderful people. He's got two little 'uns there - and they take after their dad, because they're a handful - and he's also about to get married.

"His life is going pretty well at this moment in time, and all that I've mentioned helps ground somebody and drive their focus on certain days.

"He's always had talent - it's just a case of guiding that talent. Mistakes, yeah - let's not hide behind the fact that he's made some mistakes in his life. But when somebody makes mistakes, and they put it right, they come through it and get to the other end, and take their career to a different level, that tells you a lot about a person."

A settled, happy Stokes can indeed prove a player to fear when England confront the old enemy this winter, Harmison believes. "Ben Stokes is the best cricketer in the world at this moment in time from an all-rounder's point of view. For England to stand any chance of winning in Australia, they need him. But when he goes there, he's got to do it differently to how we did it in my time, that 2006/7 tour..."

That series began with Harmison spearing a huge wide into the slips at Brisbane, and ended with a 5-0 defeat despite the captaincy of the previously talismanic Flintoff. "Freddie tried to take on Australia by himself, because he nearly had to. We weren't good enough as a side. Fingers crossed this side stands up, and Ben can shine."

Harmison, meanwhile encounters Cumbria again next week, for he is manager of Northern League football club Ashington, who host Penrith on Tuesday. Before then, there is a more pressing priority on a sunlit Cumbrian day. "I'd better get my beer now," he says. "We're fielding in a minute."