When we made out plans to spend the last days of the county championship season at Riverside there was still a possibility that both teams i.e. Durham and Glamorgan could be involved in the Division Two promotion race. As it turned out, with Durham losing at Northampton, Glamorgan were the only ones with an outside chance of promotion, depending upon the result of the game between the two most likely contenders Gloucester and Northants at Bristol.
Perhaps we should expect at the end of September that the weather would have the final say in proceedings in both divisions in fact. Heavy rain on the afternoon of the second day ended the game with no chance of play at all on days three and four. So Gloucester and Northants were both promoted, along with Lancashire, and Durham and Glamorgan will continue hostilities in the lower division again next season.
It all started so well eventually on day one, although the overnight rain had got underneath the covers resulting in a new wicket being cut at the farthest extremity of the square on the Lumley Castle side. A fine sunny day then saw Durham batting for the remainder of the day in which 71 overs were bowled which was more than anywhere else in the country as the rain gradually spread northwards.
After losing the wickets of Cameron Steel and Angus Robson early on, Alex Lees and new import from New Zealand, B.J. Watling, put Durham in the driving seat. Watling was signed for the last two games when Durham still had an outside chance of promotion but these hasty deals, as done by other counties including Yorkshire, almost beggar belief. However the test match wicket keeper/batsman certainly proved his ability and stood on 83 not out at the end of the day when Durham had totalled 197-6.
The Glamorgan side is something of a mixed bag, with Australians, South Africans, a Yorkshireman (Billy Root) and even one or two Welshmen. The veteran Australian Mike Hogan was certainly the pick of the bowlers with four wickets. He certainly proved too good for 18 year old Solomon Bell, making his first championship appearance, who was clean bowled off stump for only one. His turn will no doubt come again next season.
The weather forecasts for Tuesday varied somewhat and we took hope from the Met Office forecast, which unlike the BBC, suggested a brief dry window until noon before a monsoon would apparently arrive. To our great surprise, this proved correct and we, together with only a handful of other spectators, actually saw an hour's cricket when play got underway soon after 11 a.m. when a couple of showers had further delayed things. De Lange was soon into the action by bowling Raine with the third ball of the morning, but Watling continued in his confident way, in the company of the rather more belligerent Carse, who scored a quickfire 27.
By then Watling had completed a well deserved century which had taken just over five hours of patient batting. Durham had reached 262-8 in a total of 86.4 overs when the forecast rain returned with a vengeance. A torrential downpour soon put paid to any further play that day and as it turned out for the remainder of the match. So a drawn game with seven points to each side in an unsatisfactory end to the county season. However as we retreated to the shelter of the 'Sticky Wicket' bar the huge TV screens were showing that Somerset and Essex had just re-started play in the Division one championship decider at Taunton.
So with suitable liquid refreshment, we were able to conclude our county season in fine style.
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