Posted by Tony Hutton
One of the few benefits of lockdown is the ability to revisit my bookshelves and dig out long forgotten volumes from the past. Hence the unusual title, which is a fascinating book written by Jack Chapman in 2003. It is a history of club cricket in County Durham from 1751 to 2002. I came across it again while trawling the internet and to my surprise found the whole book is available to read there. Quickly found it in more traditional form on my shelves and enjoyed reading it yet again.
Readers with good eyesight may just pick out a picture of Darlington cricket ground below the team picture in the centre. Just to the right is the familiar face (and ears) of the former Yorkshire opening bowler Alex Coxon, who became a legend in Durham league cricket not only for his all round cricketing ability but for his fiery temper as well. Probably unknown to most will be the pavilion top left, which turns out to be the original Ropery Lane, Chester-le-Street building opened in 1904.
The picture at the bottom centre of the page is in fact of the Racecourse Ground in Durham City, with an illustration of a match between Twenty Two of Durham v All England Eleven in 1849, and well worthy of enlarging to study the scene not very much different from today.
However the book starts nearly a hundred years earlier than this with the first reported match in the county taking place at Raby Castle in 1751. In fact this was the second of two games within a week between the Earl of Northumberland's team and the Duke of Cleveland's side. The first game had been played just over the county boundary at Stanwick, the Earl's seat in North Yorkshire and the return fixture at Raby Castle near Staindrop in County Durham. The local press reported that both games were won by the Earl of Northumberland's side by a great number of notches.
Such matches were rarely reported in the press in those days and it is hard to establish just how quickly the game spread throughout the county. There is a report of a game at Piecebridge, on the River Tees in 1773 when the gentlemen of West Auckland played the gentlemen of Scruton, North Yorkshire for a stake of 25 guineas. West Auckland were the winners of a three innings game and promptly challenged any club within a fifty mile radius for the same sum of money.
Club cricket became really established at the start of the nineteenth century with the Sunderland club founded as early as 1801. Neutral venues were often used in these early days, but the biggest expansion occurred following the opening of the Stockton and Darlington railway in 1825. Crowds increased and clubs were able to travel farther afield. Cricket matches became great social events with local traders jumping on the bandwagon to make money from selling food and drink. Disputes over betting and the composition of teams became common place.
Professionals started to be employed later in the century, often from far afield and disputes continued over bowling actions until over arm bowling was approved in 1864. League cricket was established in 1891 and the story continues in great detail up to the beginning of the present century. One of the most interesting features of the book are the pen pictures of professional cricketers over the years which give a fascinating insight into cricket over the years. For instance Denis Hendren, brother of the more famous 'Patsy' Hendren, had played for Middlesex, but played for about half a dozen Durham clubs between 1907 and 1930. Highly successful his mannerisms were reported to be 'many and strange'.
In more recent times well known overseas names such as Clayton Lambert, Wasim Raja, Derick Parry, Clyde Butts and West Indian brothers Dennison and Wesley Thomas appeared. In 1993 Dennison Thomas achieved the rare feat of the 'double' scoring over a thousand runs and taking 100 wickets. A detailed statistical section appears at the end of the book, completing an excellent study of league cricket which has always been played so enthusiastically in County Durham. A wonderful read.
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