Wednesday 28th June and off to deepest Durham to tick off another ground which has been on my wanted list for some time - Burnopfield, where Durham Seconds were entertaining Derbyshire Seconds on day two of a championship match. Despite dire warnings of how difficult it was to find I was able by studying Google Earth at great lengths to find it without much trouble and what a lovely ground it proved to be. It is a newish ground, opened only five years ago when the village club relocated up the hill. A well designed pavilion full of memorabilia of former players, notably the one and only Colin Milburn. Even further back in time was Jim McConnon spin bowler of Glamorgan and England, whose MCC touring blazer adorns the wall.
Although situated on a main road, little traffic noise was noticed and the rest of the ground is surrounded by woodland. The playing area is spacious with raised banking at one end and all in all a very pleasant place to watch cricket, particularly on such a fine day. Derby had batted all of day one and continued on day two as tailender William Davis, a fast bowler by trade, was on the verge of a century with the bat. He was 85 not out overnight and edged towards the magic total rather slowly but with a couple of fours and a few singles made his way fairly convincingly to 99. Sadly disaster struck and his off stump was removed by Gavin Main. Another disconsolate batsman returned to the pavilion.
Matt McKiernan, of Richmondshire and Cumberland fame, had retired hurt on the previous day but returned to take his score to 85 not out before Derbyshire were eventually bowled out for 362. Main had the best figures with 4-62. Another interesting couple of wicket keepers appeared in this game (I wonder how many we have seen this season) in the shape of Jonathan Read, once of Yorkshire now on loan to Durham and Edward Hurst, once of Durham now on trial with Derby. I know it's hard to keep up with all this!
We stayed until lunchtime and saw Scotsman McBride and Jones, a Lancastrian also with Scottish connections open confidently for Durham putting on 70 for the first wicket. We assumed Durham would match Derby's big score but found out later that they declared behind and encouraged Derby to set them a target on the next day. This they did and although 321 seemed a bit steep, Durham mainly through the efforts of Cumbrian Liam Trevaskis, 65 not out, and Barry McCarthy, the Irishman with 55, got home for a famous victory by two wickets.
Our destination after lunch, only a twenty minute ride away, was Riverside, Chester le Street, where Durham's first team were engaged in a day/night pink ball encounter with Warwickshire. Not really our cup of tea but the timing of a 2 p.m. start fitted in very well with our day. This was day three and Warwickshire were well on top having scored 424 in their first innings, with Trott 170 not out.
Durham were up against it and at one point looked like having to follow on but some good batting from Harte, Pringle and Rimmington took them beyond the required target, but soon afterwards the home side were all out with good bowling from Hannon-Dalby the former Yorkshire player who took four wickets. Warwickshire's skipper the New Zealander Patel, took two wickets in two balls by moving Ian Bell to wide second slip wearing a helmet. He immediately held two catches in that very position and Durham were struggling before Wright took two more wickets and they were all out for 297.
That was enough entertainment for one day and it was no great surprise to learn the following day that Warwickshire declared and then bowled Durham out a second time with Patel taking 6-86. The visitors certainly looked a very good side, with tight bowling and excellent fielding making them one of the favourites for promotion this season.
However hats off to deepest Durham and Burnopfield a lovely place with lovely people and certainly on our visiting list again in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment