Cricket ground hopping used to be one of my regular pastimes but times have changed and it rarely features in my itinerary these days. However the chance arose on Sunday 15th July as we made our way north to Riverside for Monday's Under 19 Test to tick off two grounds in County Durham which had long been on my wanted list. The ACS book on Cricket Grounds of Durham, published in 2005, lists twenty two grounds on which Durham CCC second XI played during the early years of first class cricket.
I have long been aware that I had seen cricket on twenty of them, but that two were missing in the shape of Eppleton and Philadelphia. Eppleton is a long story going back to 1992 when the only Durham second XI match to be played there took place in the county's first season of first class cricket. Three years later I was travelling with Gullivers to Australia to watch an Ashes series and in our party were a couple from Eppleton, who of course were singing it's praises and inviting me to visit them some time. Partly because Durham seconds never played there again I never got there - until now.
Eppleton play in the North East Premier league and by chance their third team (or development XI) had a home match with Burnopfield (also visited recently) on Sunday. So off we went to this sun parched oasis in Eppleton village, with a good number of spectators enjoying the heat wave. A pleasant enough ground which proved easy to find thanks to Google Earth map, a constant source of identifying any cricket ground in England. Lack of shade prevented a long stay but I took my photographs for posterity and moved on.
During the course of all this I was surprised to get a phone call from my son in Paris who could not believe I was spending my Sunday afternoon in the back streets of a County Durham mining village.
However he seemed more impressed with the name of my next target which was Philadelphia where Durham seconds had played several times in the late 1990s. The village boundary board helpfully told us that it was named after the city in the USA shortly after the British had taken possession of it during the American War of Independence in the late 1700s. So not as I thought like Washington USA which was named after the nearby town of Washington here.
Philadelphia are in a different league (in more ways than one) - the Durham County League who had a double header programme this weekend and were playing Tudhoe in a first eleven game. An attractive ground with distant views of the Penshaw Monument, a notable Durham landmark which can be seen from far and wide. Also a modern pavilion and a grassy bank on the far side with trees giving welcome shade thus encouraging a longer stay than Eppleton. Tudhoe were batting and had a very useful looking Sri Lankan, Rosham Jayatissa, who scored a brisk 47, including ten fours.
A couple of the local lads hit two straight sixes each and the entertainment was good value for the very small band of spectators, also enlivened by the home wicket keeper - yet another W.G. Grace lookalike. Time also to get a closer look at the Penshaw Monument which I had seen from afar for many years, but not tempted to make the steep climb to the top, particularly on such a hot day.
All in all a very pleasant day, including a lunch time stop at Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire on our way north on the A 19. Of course it all set me off on further research as no doubt Durham second XI have played on other grounds since the 2005 book. I know for a fact that they have invaded Yorkshire (old county boundaries) to play at Marton, Stokesley, Middlesborough and Richmond at least. Swalwell and Burnopfield have also been added and there may well be more.
No doubt Mr Winn and his friends will be able to add one or two.
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