A useful wrinkle

posted by John Winn

On a lovely summer's day in September 2016 Durham beat Surrey by 21 runs to finish fourth in the First Division of the County Championship, a victory that pushed the brown caps down to fifth. The Durham team that day was Stoneman, Jennings, Borthwick, Burnham, Stokes, Collingwood, Clark, Poynter, Carse, Wood and Onions. Missing were Rushworth and Coughlin (P) both injured. Only one of the team, Clark, plus the injured Rushworth played against Derbyshire earlier this week in the extraordinary game described by Tony in yesterday's posting. Stoneman, Jennings, Borthwick,Onions and Coughlin have been tempted away, Burnham through his own stupidity is banned, Stokes, Wood and Poynter are on international duty, Collingwood is injured and Carse is in the seconds. Tony has described the provenance of the players who have taken their places and we can throw into the mix Richardson, player of the month for May and Weighell, a 'sevenfor' against Leicestershire a few weeks ago, both of whom would have played against Derbyshire had they been fit.

Durham's next two games, Sussex away and Warwickshire at The Riverside, are likely to offer sterner tests and their current fourth place may prove temporary but the spirit they showed on Monday and Tuesday is all that can be asked of them. I spent part of Saturday watching the first innings debacle but left shortly before tea as Derbyshire closed in on a first innings lead. Not to go straight home however but instead diverting from the A167 just south of Durham City to drop in on Tudhoe,  a former mining village which looked splendid in the afternoon sunshine. The game I had come to see was Durham Cricket League Division 1 fare with Crook having made the short journey to be the opposition.

It was the tea interval when I arrived at the well appointed ground

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Tudhoe had been bowled out for just 86, a bad day at the office as their scorer put it, and Crook watched by a decent size crowd began their reply cautiously against the spin of Roshan Jayatissa a Sri Lankan with first class experience. Roshan made the breakthrough with just nine on the board when Jamie Mills was caught for 7 but no more wickets fell while I watched and Crook got home with five wickets to spare, a result that puts them top of the table above Easington with Tudhoe third. 

Back to the Great North Road and down to Scotch Corner where another slight diversion took me to Richmond and the school of that name in search of Richmondshire CC V who along with the fourth team play their matches at the school. And here is the useful wrinkle promised in the title of the blog, albeit one only of use to anybody keen to see either of the two teams who call it home. Do not, unless you are fond of walking, try to gain access from the car park at the front of the school. It is possible and probably legal but a bit of a hike and lesser men might have wilted in the heat for I began to despair of ever finding cricket. I did find it in the end and RCC had just begun their reply to Barton seconds 185 for 7 in a Darlington and District B division match. A wicket fell almost immediately but largely thanks to 58 from Michael White things improved but at stumps they were still 18 short. Richmondshire find themselves bottom of the table after six matches, Barton are two places 

above. Whilst talking to a local I discovered that access is better from the Easby Road, take the B6271 (Maison Dieu)from Richmond town centre. Parking is limited but the walk is much shorter.

Finally if you are looking for something a bit different on Sunday then you might give Headingley a try. The match is an ECB XI v India A, wickets pitched 11:00. Originally scheduled as Yorkshire v India A but changed by virtue of Yorkshire's continued involvement in the One Day Cup. ECB have selected a decent looking opposition captained by Lancashire's Alex Davies and admission is free but by St Michael's Lane only. It is a fifty over game.