MARK Davies admits that had someone at the start of the season offered him 36 championship wickets for the season at an average of 19.66 he would have snapped their hand off.

That's what he's got already and the Durham seamer is the country's leading wicket-taker, which represents a gigantic leap after taking only ten wickets in four championship appearances last season.

He had served notice of his ability in 2002 by topping the county's bowling averages with 33 wickets at 27.57, but then came a huge setback just before the start of last season.

On the same day that Paul Collingwood suffered his serious shoulder injury in a friendly against Lancashire, 23-year-old Davies' right lung collapsed while he was in the nets at Old Trafford.

It was the eighth time it had happened, but this was particularly annoying as he had had an operation which was supposed to reduce the likelihood of a recurrence by 85 per cent.

"The first time it happened I was 16. We were playing on the drive at home and it frightened the life out of me and my parents," he said.

"It gives you pins and needles, leaves you short of breath and makes you feel sick. The first time it was on my left side, but then it started on the right and it has kept happening at a bad time for my career.

"Late in the 2001 season it happened when I was playing for the academy in Portsmouth. I had played for the first team in a few one-day games, but that ended my season.

"Durham have been brilliant in putting me in touch with the right people. I saw a specialist, who recommended surgery, and I decided to go for it because you can't play with one lung.

"When it happened again before last season it was a massive setback because I was thinking at my age it could wreck my career. You can bowl again in three weeks, but the muscle loss takes some getting back and last season I never really felt fit.

"The specialist said it could have recurred because of scar tissue and he didn't think there was any need for further surgery.

"I worked really hard on my fitness last winter.

"Having the new gym at Riverside has been a big help and I also did three months for a landscape gardening firm, doing a lot of heavy work.

"I think the fact that I now feel physically fit and strong is a big reason for my success. I'm probably bowling a bit quicker, and I've had a lot of help from people like Geoff Cook, Martyn Moxon and Alan Walker.

"I used to bowl in-swing and Geoff told me if I could get it to go away I would be twice the bowler. I have worked hard on staying tall at the crease and not falling away. That helps you to get everything behind the ball and your wrist stays upright, which helps to swing the ball away.

"Taking nine wickets in the first match at Hampshire was a massive boost after the position I had been in 12 months earlier.

"Then I bowled a lot at Nasser Hussain in the home match against Essex and had a good chat with him afterwards. He was really good and things like that fill you with confidence."

Born in Stockton, the 6ft 3in Davies went to Northfield Comprehensive School in Billingham and started going to Norton Cricket Club at the age of seven with his neighbour Marc Symington, the former Durham all-rounder.

Davies' grandfather, Stan Adamson, is a stalwart of Wolviston CC and his uncle, Paul Adamson, played for Yorkshire seconds.

His brother Andrew, the Middlesbrough footballer, was also a very good cricketer and they both played for Cleveland Schools, while Mark played football for Billingham Boys until he joined the Durham Academy.

He played in three one-day internationals for England Under-19s and might have played more had it not been for his lung problem.

Prior to this season his best first-class bowling was five for 61 against Glamorgan at Riverside in 2002, but he improved that with six for 53 against Hampshire.

He also had five for 30 against Essex and six for 78 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, and there has not been a championship innings this season in which he has taken fewer than two wickets.

He also sent down the most economical full allocation of overs for Durham in a one-day league match last Sunday. Although he didn't take a wicket against Derbyshire, his nine overs cost only ten runs.

Yet he has no doubt that the highlight of his season, indeed his career, was being there at the end when Durham clinched their amazing one-wicket win at Taunton.

He went in to join Gareth Breese with 17 needed and admits: "I spent half the time during the ninth-wicket stand at the back of the dressing room with Jon Lewis. I was terrified.

"Once I got out there I thought I was lbw first ball.

"I asked the umpire, Neil Mallender, if it was close and he said 'you wouldn't want it to be much closer.'

"But Gareth was going so well and he relaxed me a lot. He kept telling me to enjoy it and reminding me that this was why we played cricket.

"The run-out at the end was very tight, but it didn't worry me as much as the lbw. When Gareth hit the winning runs it was the best moment of my career. It was unbelievable."

Davies made four not out, but his real achievement this season is underlined by the fact that with seven of the 16 championship games gone he has already taken more wickets than any Durham bowler in the last two seasons.

At the current rate he could be the first to take 70 in a season for the county, with the record of 69 belonging to Simon Brown in 1996.

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