Durham County Cricket Club (Durham CCC) is an English domestic first-class cricket team based at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
Granted first-class status in 1991, Durham is English cricket's youngest first-class county. The County Ground at the Riverside is also the newest addition to the English test match circuit; hosting its first match, England v Zimbabwe in the second npower Test, in June 2003.
History of the club edit
Early cricket in the north-east edit
The first recorded match of representative cricket in the county took place in 1848 at Sunderland, between an All England XII and a Bishopwearmouth 22. Despite their extra numbers the cricketers of Bishopwearmouth were comprehensively outplayed as All England's scores of 129 and 143 dwarfed their own 56 and 59.
The first team to carry the name of 'Durham County' played an MCC team in 1876, and went on to take on the touring Australians in 1878, winning by 71 runs, and again in 1880, losing by an innings and 38 with the great Fred Spofforth taking 17 wickets for 66.
Founding of the club edit
Durham CCC was founded as an official entity on May 23, 1882 at a meeting of representatives of sixteen representatives of the county's clubs convened by the South Shields Cricket Club. Membership subscriptions were set at £1 1s. The nascent club played its first competitive match on June 12 of that year, beating Northumberland by 4 wickets at the Ashbrooke Ground, Sunderland, with new club captain Arthur Mewburn returning his career best bowling figures of 7 for 59 and scoring 47 not out to shepherd his side to victory.
The club established an enviable record as a minor county: becoming the first minor county to beat a first-class county in the Gilette Cup; winning the Minor Counties Championship a record-equalling nine times between 1900 and 1984; and putting together a record of 65 matches without defeat between 1976 and 1982 that remains unbroken to the present day.
Early in 1989, the Club began the process of applying to become a first-class cricketing county and join the County Championship. First-class status was awarded on December 6, 1991, with Durham becoming the first new first-class county for 70 years. Their first season in the County Championship was the 1992 season.
Durham have not been distinguished by marked success as a first-class county. They finished bottom of the County Championship in their first two seasons and continued with finishes in the bottom three until 1999, when a fine season saw them finish 8th and gain a place as one of nine teams in Division One of the newly reorganised Championship. However, 8th place in 2000 sent them down to Division Two where they have remained since, finishing in the bottom two in every year except 2003, when they reached 6th.
The Riverside edit
The club's acceptance into first-class cricket was made conditional on the building of a new test match-standard cricket ground. Work began on the new ground at the Riverside, a spectacular location in Chester-le-Street overlooked by Lumley Castle, in 1990, and development has continued in phases until the present day. Work on the outfield and playing surface began in 1993. In its first three seasons in the Couny Championship, the Club played in a variety of locations around the county, but the Riverside ground was pronounced ready for cricket in time for the 1995 season, even though many of the buildings were still temporary or unfinished. The ground hosted its first game, Durham v Warwickshire, on May 18, 1995. Other facilities at the ground continued being built over subsequent years, and the club's Don Robson Pavilion was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996. The full ground capacity, including permanent and temporary seating, is 15,000.
The development of the Riverside into a significant cricketing venue was underscored in 1999, when it hosted World Cup involving Pakistan, Scotland, Australia and Bangladesh, and then in 2000 when it staged the first One-day International match in the NatWest Triangular Series between England, Zimbabwe and the West Indies. In 2003 the Riverside Ground was raised to test match status, and it hosted its first test match, England v Zimbabwe in the second npower Test, on June 4, 2003.
Players edit
Since Durham's induction as a first-class county, each player has been allocated a unique squad number. The first 11 numbers were allocated in batting order from the club's first game, and subsequent numbers have been awarded in order of debut.
The current Durham squad consist of:
David Barrick
Dale Benkenstein
Gareth Breese- Graeme Bridge
Kyle Coetzer- Paul Collingwood (Vice-captain)
- Mark Davies
- Michael Gough
- Gavin Hamilton (on loan to Scotland during June and July 2005)
- Stephen Harmison
Mike Hussey (Captain)- Neil Killeen
- Jonathan Lewis
- James Lowe
- Jimmy Maher (as cover for Mike Hussey during September 2005)
- Gordon Muchall
- Philip Mustard (Wicket keeper)
- Ashley Noffke
- Graham Onions
- Nicky Peng
- Andrew Pratt
- Gary Pratt
- Gary Scott
- Callum Thorp
- Mark Turner
- Alan Walker
- Brad Williams (as cover for Ashley Noffke during August 2005)
Other notable cricketers who have played for the club include:
References edit
- Bannister, Jack & David Graveney (1993). Durham County Cricket Club: Past, Present and Future. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 1852915277.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help) - Hughes, Simon (1992). From Minor to Major: Durham's First Year in the Championship. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340582340.
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