Long Rooms and swansongs

24 June 2010

Bounding down the stairs from his perch at the top of the pavilion at Leeds’ Weetwood ground a week ago, our scorer John Davidson epitomised our season. Beaming from ear to ear, Badger, as he is affectionately known by all involved with Durham cricket, embraced each and every player as they traipsed off. Having dismissed the home side for 168, a comfortable first-innings victory had crowned us as champions of the MCCU two-day competition.

What was more, we were on our way to Lord’s to compete in the end-of-season Challenge Final match against the second-placed side, Loughborough. Looking on as twelfth-man, Badger’s ecstasy (or more accurately each individual player’s reaction to it) amused me greatly until I was caught up unawares in a loving man-hug myself about two minutes later.

A Twenty20 tournament between nine sides at Loughborough this week, in which we were drawn in a group alongside Cardiff MCCU and Durham Second XI, gave us an ideal opportunity to get rid of any post-exam cobwebs in preparation for the season finale on Friday.

Opening up against our neighbours from the Riverside Ground, who must have been sick of the sight of us in our fourth meeting of the season, we narrowly failed to overhaul a target of around 170. Later in the day against Cardiff, explosive efforts from Greg Smith and Jamie Atkinson saw us post 200, setting up a convincing win.

All of this meant that we did not quite reach the semi-finals due to be played the next day, although we certainly could fill our boots at the magnificent barbeque put on by our hosts, the MCC. On the drive back up north, our thoughts could start to turn towards St. John’s Wood, our reward for the season’s success and another reminder of what a privilege it is to be part of the MCC Universities scheme.
As well as providing a great experience in cricketing terms, the fixture at the Home of Cricket will offer a fitting way to sign off from Durham after what had been a fantastic three years under the charge of Graeme ‘Foxy’ Fowler. Although the year has been punctuated by some brilliant individual performances, such as Dan Gale reaching a century of wickets over his University career or the immense form of the top-five batsmen, what has shone most brightly is a remarkable team ethic.

At some point over the season, everyone has made at least one hugely important contribution with bat or ball and such togetherness has really made the hellish mornings of seven o’clock track sessions in howling gales and horizontal rain seem completely worthwhile. Though it may seem to be utter madness, I think I might miss them this winter.

Charlie Morgan