England v W.Indies @ Durham County Cricket GroundSaturday July 15th, 2000 Background to Durham County Cricket Club Only 10 year ago Durham County Cricket club were accepted into the folds of 1st Class County Cricket, the first team for many a decade to be allowed to join the old boys club. A purpose built ground
England v W.Indies @ Durham County Cricket Ground
Saturday July 15th, 2000
Background to Durham County Cricket Club
Only 10 year ago Durham County Cricket club were accepted into the folds of 1st Class County Cricket, the first team for many a decade to be allowed to join the old boys club. A purpose built ground was built, with a lot of the resources and labour being provided free of charge by local companies. This was the first new county ground to be built this century.
It is a complex thing to build a cricket ground. It is not just a case of laying down a big square of grass. The square, and more importantly, the wicket (the rectangluar section where the bowler and batsman operate), is so important. Matches hinge on the condition of the wicket, the performance of the ball and subsequently the bat, are controlled somewhat by the pitch.
I am no expert on the subject so I will not try to pretend to be but suffice to say that it is of huge importance to the success of the ground and even the playing style of the home team. Anyway for the first couple of seasons Durham played their games at the town grounds (Hartlepool, Darlington, Durham City, Stockton) who form the county of Durham, until their ground was ready some 5 years ago.
The ground has now tasted its first full England International. There were some World Cup games there last season (Australia, Bangladesh & Scotland played there), but this was the first time a senior England side had played there. This was a very proud day for Durham County Cricket Club.
Temporary seating was installed to put the capacity up to 15,000, each paying around £35 for a ticket.
Getting There
The ground is situated by the river Wear, and is overlooked rather charmingly by Lumley Castle, a relatively modern castle in terms of the area (14/15th Cent) (sorry to all you folk from the States but that is modern to us). The ground is around one mile of the A1, and half a mile from Chester-le-Street town centre.
It is regarded as one of the ‘nicest’ grounds in the country although in true style all the talk was about the weather ‘up north’, which apparently is always cold. Imagine this all you people from proper sized countries. Durham is approximately 280 miles north of London, and yet seems to suffer from North Polism, whereby the climate is as if it is 2000 miles away at the convergence of Latitude and Longitude.
We had chosen to get a minibus taxi up there but found ourselves stuck in the traffic some 5 miles from the ground. This is slightly disconcerting as this is a major road system, and the sighting of the ground obviously had the transport link in mind, yet its’ first big day and a 45 minute tail back ensued.
The radio was put on to listen to the sublime and superb commentary from Radio 4 and the test match special team, where men and women ramble on for 5 days keeping an audience spellbound during test matches. It is hard to imagine the feasibility of commentating on cricket for the radio, as many see that it is boring to watch never mind listen to, but this mob do an amazing job and are a bastion of British broadcasting.
Well a brilliant job until this point, they started banging on about the bloody weather. People may wonder why us Brits are so obsessed by the weather, let me tell you why. I bought these tickets in January for July 15th, slap bang in the middle of summer – a safe bet for a bright red cricket face at the end of the day. Cool boxes should be packed and sun glasses worn. Was it sunny? was it knackers. The weeks in the run up to the game had been abysmal. However, this was July and we got two seasons that day, Autumn and Spring. Often we get four. Roll on ‘global warming’.
So here are Radio 4 moaning about the frozen northern wastelands, yet one week earlier at the home of cricket, the mighty Lords (London town), the game was rained off half way through. Four days later in Manchester the weather was equally as bad, but all of a sudden that is forgotten and it’s terrible as if it was the first bad day of the whole summer.
So the game started at 10:45 while we were still in traffic, the club had taken the step of not allowing in any alcohol what so ever; What, no booze?! I hear you cry. Well, yes as much as you want, but only if you buy it from them. So at the turnstiles many a crate of beverage was stacked after being liberated from the fans. The bag searches were not too thorough and a bottle of spirits could easily have been smuggled in (in fact we did take in a bottle of vodka after the interval).
The Match
Finding ones correct seat proved problematic and much confusion was witnessed, even to the point of people giving it the old “that’s my seat, mate!”. At which point tickets are drawn like two gunfighters, only to reveal that the challenger was in the complete wrong block (A2 when he wanted A3). Row confusion also reared its head, a dangerous and omnipotent phenomenon, “This is row XX, is it not?” “No, it is row YY”. So a tip for anyone visiting the ground and seating in the temporary seating, double and then treble check where you are as it is quite a quest.
So seat located, the West Indies lost their first wicket and the master that is Brian Lara (commonly regarded as the best batsmen in the world) came to the crease. The time was getting on (midday) and I needed a pint. There was the outdoor beer tent with perhaps a 20-yd queue, so we headed into the rather posh restaurant and bar.
A bizarre system was in operation here, two queues looping around and to opposite ends of the bar where each was manned by one barmaid. Frequently people, either unaware or deliberately, tried to circumnavigate the queue but were immediately informed of the error of their ways. This was a cricket audience and despite a fair percentage of football fans there, cricket etiquette and politeness ruled. Besides some of these people had been queuing for 45 mins and were not going to lose out.
The British are very good at queuing, unlike certain Europeans (not pointing to the Germans here at all), who seem to have difficulty in forming an orderly line and following the basic principal of first come first served. In fact, us Brits are that good at queuing Communism would have been better being tested in the UK, not only would we wait patiently but if the bread ran out we would not complain. It would be seen as “one of those things – worse things happen at sea – there are others far worse off than us.”
While at the bar a divine site befell the would-be drinkers. Three young ladies, one dressed in white hot pants and not much else (considering the temperature of the day!) were attracting looks and offers (to join hospitality boxes) from numerous people. An hour later, back in my seat with my drinks and listening to the radio, one of the commentators had just been on walkabouts and had spotted this site and was reporting it to the world, at which the Great Sir Viv Richards asked if next time he could tag along on the walkabout. Unfortunately she was not spotted again.
Yes, it took me an hour to buy my first drinks, the result of this was partly due to there not being enough bar staff, and the ones that were there were giving personal service to people determined to still have their lunch sitting in the dining area despite the mayhem around them.
Once the day wore on and people were wanting drinks at different times, the queues got less but it still seemed that the organisers did not consider how many people would be actually wanting a drink. It was the biggest crowd ever at the ground so it could be forgiven.
The match itself progressed as with the current form, England’s bowlers dominating the opposition and today the English fielding was lightning. Brian Lara briefly flirted with a dominating innings but never quite got his timing correct and end up finishing in the mid 50’s. The Windies innings finished around 187, leaving England 188 to win.
As the lunch break started we left and forced marched up to Chester-le-Street high street in search of a pub with less queues. The Crown was found (Crown Inn or Arms – not too sure on exact name), and a decent boozer it was, plenty of locals in and we were the first in from the ground due to our high speed march. We had 45 mins to down three pints which was easily achieved.
Many of the locals looked at us in amazement for going to watch the cricket. It is still looked upon as a strange sport by many, compared to football which is culturally accepted by the working classes. Despite the fact that the higher quality football is being removed from the grasp of the working classes.
The England Innings started well with the new boy Trescothick playing some great strokes and well backed by the aggressive Stewart. By this time the bars had sorted themselves out a bit more and it was easier to get a drink. Even the sun came out late in the afternoon. England went on to reach the total without losing a wicket, which was a record opening stand by an England pair. As a result the tension did not really build and the atmosphere suffered, a few brave attempts at the Mexican wave were started, and a couple of streakers made their way onto the pitch.
These were interesting, as normally they are pursued by stewards and police. Here they just left them and, not knowing what to do upon reaching the wicket, one started press ups while the other shook hands with the England captain.
The police had a novel way of ‘punishing’ these characters, they made them stand round the front of the main entrance naked for 15mins. They would not let them get dressed, this assured embarrassment and a whole load of time to think about what you are displaying. That is how policing should be done – saves everyone hassle.
Waiting for the taxi to return for us we had another couple of scoops in the bar then went out into the now empty ground for a smoke and a reflect on the day. Sitting opposite the pavilion with Lumley Castle to our backs we realised what a fine ground it is and how we miss this level of cricket in the North East.
Upon listening and reading comments from the match, most reporters and commentators agree that it is only a matter of time before Chester-le-Street gets a Test Match, although I am sure Headingly (Leeds) will have something to say about that.
Another reason that this ground is famous in the UK is from the TV program “Who wants to be a Millionaire”. Now the British version of this has never been won. This is not to do with us being daft, it is because the questions are hard and unlike the rest of the world’s attempts where they have been made easier, ours has maintained the difficulty.
In the States, the public could not handle nobody winning the jackpot so they made it easier. Perhaps this is the same mind set that struggles with the game of cricket, a game that may last five days and yet still end in a draw.
Well, a gentleman called Peter Lee from Wales was at the million pound question and he was asked which County Club plays at Chester-le-Street. Durham was one of the answers. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure and passed on the question, settling for half a mill. Peter was a guest of the club on this day and had to relive all the attention and frustration of that moment. Mind you, he is half a millionaire which ain’t that bad.
Some Chester-le-Street History
Chester-le-Street is the business, residential and shopping centre of one of the smallest English Districts. But size is not everything and the area has many attractions ranging from beautiful countryside to a rich heritage.
Over the millennia the town has served many functions; an ancient British encampment, the site of Conganium, a Roman fort, and for over 150 years the resting place of St. Cuthbert’s body before its’ transfer to Durham, to keep it safe from the Viking invaders.
During the middle ages Chester-le-Street was the administrative and ecclesiastical centre for the northern part of County Durham and the 14th century parishes of the church of St. Mary and St Cuthbert, this church being one of the towns major landmarks still around today.
Lumley castle overlooks the ground and is the ancestral home of the Lumley family who had prospered over the years, latterly as mine owners.
Being in the north east during the 18th & 19th Centuries, the area profited from the coal industry, this being one of the key areas of the Industrial Revolution.
Another great family, the Lambtons, prospered again on coal. Lambton Castle was the home of the first Earl of Durham, “Radical Jack”, the force behind the great Social Reform Act of 1832 and the father of the unified Canadian state.
There is famous folktale of the Lambton worm (dragon) which had been slain by a bygone Lambton heir, after taking advice from a local witch. He was meant to kill the first living thing after the victory which he never did, thus rendering all subsequent Lambtons open to a violent death.
The area is also famous for its open air museum, Beamish (also the name of a nice stout), is a celebration of how we used to live, including a colliery, pit village, school, bank, farms and a pub.
There is a great deal of glorious countryside both valley and fell, also the area is close to Sunderland, Newcastle, Durham and the Scottish Borders, oh and not forgetting the mecca of the North Hartlepool.
Some key dates in History
883AD, Monks from Lindisfarne brought the body of St. Cuthbert to the Saxon Cathedral.
952AD, Eric Bloodaxe the Viking king visited St. Cuthberts shrine.
990AD, St Cuthberts shrine was moved to Durham Cathedral. Durham then became the capital of the county.
This information was plagarised from the Durham CCC, International Riverside review – July 2000.
A floodlit game is approaching at Durham when they are hosting Hampshire, including Shane Warne, the man us Brits love to hate. This game promises to be full of entertainment as the one day game and especially floodlit games are being aggressively marketed in an attempt to bring the game to younger audience.
This game is on Aug 29th.