A Milestone at The Riverside

posted by John Winn

 There was some discussion on twitter yesterday which caused confusion  in some people's minds over the distinction between first class and championship when they appear in front of the word matches. Sticking my oar in  I used the example of Durham's first first class match being against Oxford University at The Parks in April 1992 but their first championship fixture being a couple of weeks later when Leicestershire were the visitors and the venue was The Racecourse Ground by the banks of the Wear in Durham City.

This discussion arose because this week marks the twenty fifth anniversary of a game between Durham and Warwickshire at The Riverside Chester le Street which of course was both first class and championship and the first in either category to be played at Durham's then new hq.

The first three years of Durham's first class cricket career had not gone well, they had finished bottom twice in the three seasons but at least the 1995 season had begun with a win when Hampshire lost by 26 runs at Stockton. In a low scoring match runs for Manoj Prabhakar  allowed Durham to set Hants 232 to win which they seemed certain to achieve with Robin Smith hitting 50 off 51 balls but when he fell to Simon Brown Hampshire collapsed to 205 all out and  John Wood had the honour of taking the tenth wicket.

It was soon back to square one for Durham with two heavy defeats, by eight wickets at Old Trafford and an innings defeat at The Oval, big scores here for Alec Stewart and Mark Butcher helped Surrey to their sixth highest total in championship history.

And so to The Riverside on May 18th when champions Warwickshire who had started the season with two wins but a loss at Old Trafford, won the toss and batted and after going for 652 at The Oval Durham's attack conceded 424 at their new home. Runs for Moles and Nick Knight. In Durham's reply John Morris had the honour of being The Riverside's first centurion and Prabhakar hit 66 in the second innings but that was about it and in bitter weather The |Bears were winners by 111 runs.

Play gets underway at the Riverside for the first time in 1995.

Durham;'s sequence of losses carried on until late June when Derbyshire became the first team to lose at The Riverside. Wisden remarked on the variable bounce of the wicket but Morris hit 99 against his previous teammates and a dogged 75 not out by Steve Birbeck gave Durham a decent first innings lead. Nine wickets for Simon Brown set them up for an eight wicket win when on the final morning Phil Defreitas, who had joined the match late having been released by England,went for 46 off 8 overs  as Larkins hit 50 and Roseberry who had a miserable first season as captain hit 36 not out.

This win meant Durham swopped places with Derbyshire at the foot of the table but by the end of the season the Peakites had risen to fourteenth and only Kent kept Durham off the bottom. Kent's wooden spoon was their first for exactly 100 years. For Durham things could only get better and they did, but not for about ten years.

The picture at the head of the blog takes us back to 2016 and the advent of the uncontested toss. Somerset captain  Chris Rogers became the first of many skippers at The Riverside to exercise his option by asking Durham to bat. A surprisingly large crowd has gathered to watch a man not toss a coin and another man confirm a decision he had probably made as soon as he saw the fixture list. 

The second picture shows the score at close of play on the fourth day of the last match of the 2015 season. The score 291 for 7 meant Durham had beaten Worcestershire by three wickets thus confirming the visitors' relegation and the not out batsmen are Richardson on 65 and McCarthy on 12. Borthwick had earlier hit 99. That this should rank amongst my favourite photographs might surprise readers for in those days when Durham's top order included the likes of Stoneman, Jennings and Borthwick chasing down a generous target was hardly reason for cracking open the Bollinger. The twist is that the picture was taken almost seven months later on April 5th 2016, a day on which Durham should have opened their season against Durham MCCU but rain wiped out wiped out play for the day. When the scorers, showing commendable optimism, opened up the scorebox up popped the score from the victory over Worcestershire from 2015 illuminated by the Stygian gloom. I love the idea that Richardson and McCarthy had been not out all winter and that Harrison might  still smarting for it is he against whose name the lbw had stood for seven months. If memory serves the score remained in lights until play was abandoned for the day in mid afternoon.