STOCKTON will have to do without the services of budding batsman Alan Walker for three weeks following his brief return to Durham first team duty.

Never previously known as a master bladesman, Walker's highest score in the national knockout cup was 13 not out against Derbyshire at Darlington in 1994 until he went in with a runner and thrashed an unbeaten 23 off 15 balls against Sussex on Thursday.

It was a hopeless cause when he went in at 175 for nine in the 45th over with 71 still needed, but he said: "I really began to think we could do it. They just seemed to bowl it in places where I could hit it."

Now 41, Walker found the batting form of his life with Stockton last season but will now have to wait until his calf muscle heals before he plays again.

For six years he has been Durham's second X1 coach, but the seconds are now known as the A team and Alan's title has been changed to bowling coach.

Durham retained his playing registration in case of emergencies, which was how he came to take the field last Wednesday, only to injure himself attempting a diving stop in the sixth over.

"At first my groin and shoulder hurt, then about two balls later I realised my calf had gone," he said. "It was more embarrassing than anything. When you're young you think you can just run these things off, but at my age I have to accept I won't play for three weeks."

AS I left Riverside and pulled out on to the A167 on Friday there was Graham Gooch jogging back along the road towards the ground.

According to the Essex press he had already given his bowlers a lengthy dressing-down at close of play, so he wouldn't have had time to jog too far.

But it was still an impressive effort from someone who was to be guest speaker at a benefit dinner for Durham skipper Jon Lewis an hour or so later.

Gooch has always been a fitness fanatic. I remember him endlessly lapping the field at soggy Stockton around ten years ago, and last month he did the London Marathon.

Lewis used to get into the Essex side when Gooch was on Test duty, then immediately make way even if he had scored a century. But the former England captain had no revelations to make about his ex-colleague, who came away from his first big benefit event with his pristine reputation intact.

He has chosen the totesport League visit of Middlesex as his benefit match, perhaps because it's the county of his birth but more probably because it's in high summer on July 18. There's also the attraction of Lance Klusener if he proves a bigger hit with Middlesex than he did in a brief stint with Nottinghamshire two years ago.

THE fixture computer never seems to have been very kind to Durham, but this season is crazier than ever. Since starting competitive cricket on April 16, Durham have had only four days off, and of the five scheduled rest days they have between now and May 29, tomorrow will be spent travelling to Taunton.

They have a break from June 1-5, quickly followed by a full week off in the middle of the month, by which time we will no doubt be enjoying unbroken sunshine.

DURHAM'S public address announcers are not the worst, although they are prone to the odd blunder. One of them announced last week that the in-coming batsman was Malcolm Pratt, as opposed to Andrew. Malcolm is Durham's outgoing president and a well-known league cricket correspondent, but he has certainly never aspired to strapping on the pads at this level.

THE recent death of England cricketer and footballer Willie Watson reminded Durham director Tom Moffat that he appeared for Sunderland at Wearmouth in 1949, making only 19 before being caught at mid-off. A record crowd brought gate receipts of £200 for a match in which Moffat was Wearmouth's 19-year-old wicketkeeper.

DURHAM A's three-day match against Yorkshire seconds at Riverside has been brought forward a day and will start tomorrow. The injuries mean Durham will have to field a team made up largely of academy boys, although it's doubtful whether the younger Harmison will be among them.

All-rounder Ben, 18, has developed a similar problem to Stephen at the same age - in the back - and hasn't played since his two appearances in the Under 19 World Cup in Bangladesh.

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