I watched Durham lose an important Cricket game on Television and then went to the Riverside and experienced the best of their 20 over performances when it mattered for the past two years. I listened to the Internet relays for the game against Yorkshire at Scarborough having decided against attending and was gripped by the fight that Worcester made to pip Durham for the fourth place in the Northern league to qualify for a quarter final place, albeit as the visitors away from home. As previously mentioned the home game against Yorkshire was rained off without a ball being bowled. I made the good decision not to set off although some 6000 tickets were sold for what was to have been the best home crowd of the season.
I had considered going by the club arranged coach for the Scarborough game as although I visited the ground before the recent refurbishment I have not been to see a first class contest there and it is getting on for a decade since visiting the seaside resort. Yorkshire won in the final over but my impression from the radio commentary was that Yorkshire was in the driving seat. Durham were invited to bat first made 144 runs after a disastrous start 39 for 4 with only Miller back from South Africa making 54 supported by man of the seasons Benkenstein with 33. I felt the total was not enough although with Yorkshire 86 for 5 my mood changed. The problem was Claydon who went for 48 in 3.3 overs. Collingwood 2 for 15 in 4 and Benkenstein 2 for 14 in four created the opportunity which other bowlers failed to take.
On Monday evening the game at Birmingham was televised by Sky and again the toss was loss and Durham were asked to bat and again the opening order collapsed to 44 for 4. Benkenstein again came to the rescue 50 not out this time with Breese 31 not out after Collingwood had gone for 24. When Plunket got opener Chopra at 16 there was hope but Carter, Maddy and Troughton all made runs and although Claydon made up for the Yorks debacle with just 6 runs from his two overs Collingwood went for 24 runs off his 2. It was young Borthwick who brought hope with 3 for 19 from 3 at the end. The game became exciting as Warwickshire needed 1 run to tie and two to win off the last ball after 2 wickets had fallen to Borthwick in the last over. Sadly Woakes had the stroke and hit the ball for 4.
With the weather fine but overcast I made my way apprehensively to the ground on Thursday evening setting off with the intention of arriving an hour beforehand to ensure a good seat on the balcony with a view of the electronic scoreboard. There was heavy rush hour traffic leaving Shields and then on reaching where the Shields Spur joined the main motorway from Newcastle there was very slow to stationery traffic.
I had the idea of taking the A 195 which leads off from the service area and then running parallel with the motorway until reaching a the major junction off the motorway about a mile later where four other roads led from the large roundabout. Unfortunately a lot of other drivers had the same idea and unbeknown to me the accident was on the motorway above the roundabout so traffic was coming off with right of way which made joining in from the road I was on difficult to impossible. The sub was very warm and I was grateful for the cold drink I had planned to take into the ground. I arrived and parked only a few minutes before the game commenced but managed to finds a seat on the balcony in a good location.
I must confess that I was not happy with the Durham batting after they elected to go first 25 for 2 and 87 for 6 again it was Benkenstein who had impact in the final overs making 31 not out while Miller made a quick 30. Mustard 20 and Breese 18 help to make a total which provided a challenge 144 but I was far from confident that this would be enough. I did not anticipate was to become a brilliant bowling and fielding performance which skittled the visitors out for the lowest ever total in the history of he competition 47 and with the last six wickets falling for a mere 8 runs. It was Miller who dived forward in great anticipation to scoop up an edge before it reached the ground and then Benkenstein held a rocket at close range which most fielded would have just got out of the way. It was one of he great catches at the ground. But more history was to come. In one over Collingwood took four wickets, including a hat trick with the second and third balls clean bowling the arrivals at the crease. I cannot recall such passionate excitement from a Durham crowd. Paul finished with five wickets for six runs and Claydon was full rehabilitated with 3 wickets for three runs of 3.5 overs taking the last two wickets in his final over.
We all had then to wait for what happened as Nottinghamshire played Worcestershire at Trent Bridge the following evening under floodlighting. Lancashire was certain of a home tie in the quarterfinal round while but would head the table if they won while Worcestershire had to win to take the fourth place from Durham. Notts batted and made 167 runs which was not as awesome total on this ground as it would have been at the Emirates. Voges made 55 and several others made starts but could not sustain their innings. Worcestershire did not start well losing 4 wickets for 36 runs but they recovered well with opener Ali putting on a good stand with Mitchell 41 and 45 respectively. However when they were out the innings quickly folded and although the game continued until the 20th over they were 26 runs short when the last wicket fell and Durham had been given a quarter final tie at Hampshire over the first weekend in August with all the games likely to be shown on Sky over three days with two on the Saturday evening, one on the Sunday afternoon and one on the Monday evening. While Durham has not performed well in 20 20 games away from home and Hampshire facing relegation will be desperate to give their supporters a place at finals weekend in Birmingham. I have hope still. Durham are playing Hampshire at the Rosebowl in a 40 over innings game on Tuesday evening which is also being televised so that should give a good guide to the quarter final
To day Sunday 17th July Durham played Surrey in the first of 40 over games in this second part of the season. Because it was being shown on TV and I wanted to watch the News, write and have a good lunch I had decided to watch the game from the comfort of my downstairs work room. It was a wise decision as rain prevented any play. There was an excellent interview with Graham Onions expressing his joy at being able to bowl again and his recognition that there were now a number of other bowlers competing for a position in the national side. There was an even more extensive and interesting conversation with the coaches for Durham and Surrey which included the admission that winning the championship three times in four years was the main focus although getting to a 20 20 was exciting for everyone including the players as well as for the man in the suit. Both men were at ease before the camera and talked fluently and engaged contributing on such subjects as the nature of the game now when they played three decades before, the challenge of switching between different formats over a short period, and the problem of having players on national duty and of their fitting in to the dressing room on the rare appearances when they were temporarily allowed to return.
There is also time to mention the excellent 28 to 16 win Warrington achieved over Huddersfield last Friday and shown on Sky while today they had another excellent win 54 24 away at Harlequins. They are still second in the table to Wigan despite having won one more game they lost more games in the early part of the season when Wigan were able to draw. However with 35 and 34 points respectively they have opened a gap of five points over St Helens all playing 22 games todate.
I had considered going by the club arranged coach for the Scarborough game as although I visited the ground before the recent refurbishment I have not been to see a first class contest there and it is getting on for a decade since visiting the seaside resort. Yorkshire won in the final over but my impression from the radio commentary was that Yorkshire was in the driving seat. Durham were invited to bat first made 144 runs after a disastrous start 39 for 4 with only Miller back from South Africa making 54 supported by man of the seasons Benkenstein with 33. I felt the total was not enough although with Yorkshire 86 for 5 my mood changed. The problem was Claydon who went for 48 in 3.3 overs. Collingwood 2 for 15 in 4 and Benkenstein 2 for 14 in four created the opportunity which other bowlers failed to take.
On Monday evening the game at Birmingham was televised by Sky and again the toss was loss and Durham were asked to bat and again the opening order collapsed to 44 for 4. Benkenstein again came to the rescue 50 not out this time with Breese 31 not out after Collingwood had gone for 24. When Plunket got opener Chopra at 16 there was hope but Carter, Maddy and Troughton all made runs and although Claydon made up for the Yorks debacle with just 6 runs from his two overs Collingwood went for 24 runs off his 2. It was young Borthwick who brought hope with 3 for 19 from 3 at the end. The game became exciting as Warwickshire needed 1 run to tie and two to win off the last ball after 2 wickets had fallen to Borthwick in the last over. Sadly Woakes had the stroke and hit the ball for 4.
With the weather fine but overcast I made my way apprehensively to the ground on Thursday evening setting off with the intention of arriving an hour beforehand to ensure a good seat on the balcony with a view of the electronic scoreboard. There was heavy rush hour traffic leaving Shields and then on reaching where the Shields Spur joined the main motorway from Newcastle there was very slow to stationery traffic.
I had the idea of taking the A 195 which leads off from the service area and then running parallel with the motorway until reaching a the major junction off the motorway about a mile later where four other roads led from the large roundabout. Unfortunately a lot of other drivers had the same idea and unbeknown to me the accident was on the motorway above the roundabout so traffic was coming off with right of way which made joining in from the road I was on difficult to impossible. The sub was very warm and I was grateful for the cold drink I had planned to take into the ground. I arrived and parked only a few minutes before the game commenced but managed to finds a seat on the balcony in a good location.
I must confess that I was not happy with the Durham batting after they elected to go first 25 for 2 and 87 for 6 again it was Benkenstein who had impact in the final overs making 31 not out while Miller made a quick 30. Mustard 20 and Breese 18 help to make a total which provided a challenge 144 but I was far from confident that this would be enough. I did not anticipate was to become a brilliant bowling and fielding performance which skittled the visitors out for the lowest ever total in the history of he competition 47 and with the last six wickets falling for a mere 8 runs. It was Miller who dived forward in great anticipation to scoop up an edge before it reached the ground and then Benkenstein held a rocket at close range which most fielded would have just got out of the way. It was one of he great catches at the ground. But more history was to come. In one over Collingwood took four wickets, including a hat trick with the second and third balls clean bowling the arrivals at the crease. I cannot recall such passionate excitement from a Durham crowd. Paul finished with five wickets for six runs and Claydon was full rehabilitated with 3 wickets for three runs of 3.5 overs taking the last two wickets in his final over.
We all had then to wait for what happened as Nottinghamshire played Worcestershire at Trent Bridge the following evening under floodlighting. Lancashire was certain of a home tie in the quarterfinal round while but would head the table if they won while Worcestershire had to win to take the fourth place from Durham. Notts batted and made 167 runs which was not as awesome total on this ground as it would have been at the Emirates. Voges made 55 and several others made starts but could not sustain their innings. Worcestershire did not start well losing 4 wickets for 36 runs but they recovered well with opener Ali putting on a good stand with Mitchell 41 and 45 respectively. However when they were out the innings quickly folded and although the game continued until the 20th over they were 26 runs short when the last wicket fell and Durham had been given a quarter final tie at Hampshire over the first weekend in August with all the games likely to be shown on Sky over three days with two on the Saturday evening, one on the Sunday afternoon and one on the Monday evening. While Durham has not performed well in 20 20 games away from home and Hampshire facing relegation will be desperate to give their supporters a place at finals weekend in Birmingham. I have hope still. Durham are playing Hampshire at the Rosebowl in a 40 over innings game on Tuesday evening which is also being televised so that should give a good guide to the quarter final
To day Sunday 17th July Durham played Surrey in the first of 40 over games in this second part of the season. Because it was being shown on TV and I wanted to watch the News, write and have a good lunch I had decided to watch the game from the comfort of my downstairs work room. It was a wise decision as rain prevented any play. There was an excellent interview with Graham Onions expressing his joy at being able to bowl again and his recognition that there were now a number of other bowlers competing for a position in the national side. There was an even more extensive and interesting conversation with the coaches for Durham and Surrey which included the admission that winning the championship three times in four years was the main focus although getting to a 20 20 was exciting for everyone including the players as well as for the man in the suit. Both men were at ease before the camera and talked fluently and engaged contributing on such subjects as the nature of the game now when they played three decades before, the challenge of switching between different formats over a short period, and the problem of having players on national duty and of their fitting in to the dressing room on the rare appearances when they were temporarily allowed to return.
There is also time to mention the excellent 28 to 16 win Warrington achieved over Huddersfield last Friday and shown on Sky while today they had another excellent win 54 24 away at Harlequins. They are still second in the table to Wigan despite having won one more game they lost more games in the early part of the season when Wigan were able to draw. However with 35 and 34 points respectively they have opened a gap of five points over St Helens all playing 22 games todate.
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