WINNING promotion in the one-day league softened the blow of finishing next to the bottom in the County Championship, Durham's worst finish since 1997.

Other than Nicky Peng making three glorious centuries, there were few obvious reasons why they had become a better one-day side, but they also reached the quarter-finals of both cups.

It pointed to good teamwork and added up to a satisfactory first season for new coach Martyn Moxon, who said: "Our one-day form has been very good, and very consistent.

"In the championship injuries haven't helped, coupled with a spate of lost tosses. I know we can do a lot better, and the last two performances when we won at Hove and almost beat Worcestershire at home showed what we are capable of.

"Overall I'm delighted with the season. The attitude and application of the players has been fantastic and there has been a very good spirit.

"We have needed everybody, and in that sense the injuries have stood us in good stead because we now know we have a squad of 20 players who can perform at this level."

Individually, the big plus points were the continued emergence of Peng, the superb early-season form of Paul Collingwood, which earned him an England one-day place, and the brilliant wicketkeeping of the members' Player of the Year, Andrew Pratt.

New all-rounder Danny Law overcame a slow start to reveal his true talent. He thrived on the extra opportunities afforded by injuries and became the leading wicket-taker while also scoring an excellent maiden championship hundred against Hampshire.

Given that Durham's strength in recent seasons had been their seam attack, the loss of Melvyn Betts and John Wood, followed by injuries to Simon Brown and Neil Killeen, could have proved crippling.

But with James Brinkley proving a good acquisition and Nicky Hatch emerging, they muddled through surprisingly well in this department.

The loss of Wood was not such a blow as he took nine championship wickets at 56.7 in seven matches for Lancashire.

Betts maintained his record of never getting through a season without injury, but he came back for the last game and took the final wicket to clinch promotion for Warwickshire, taking his season's tally to 37 at 26.45.

Brown played four championship games and Killeen three, while Stephen Harmison managed 11 but continued the erratic form which plagued him after his England involvement early last season.

Ian Hunter suffered similar problems after looking every inch a first-class cricketer early in the season. He became too wayward to risk and too prone to waste his batting talent by throwing his wicket away.

Off-spinner Nicky Phillips showed early-season signs of improvement, but he was also injured.

All this allowed Brinkley, signed as back-up, to become a successful fixture in the side when fit and available, while Hatch and Graeme Bridge had the chance to emerge as genuine first-class cricketers.

Although pitches were generally good, Durham's perennial problem of not enough batsmen averaging 30 continued.

Only Martin Love (50.52) and Collingwood (48.9) topped that mark in the championship, which was a poorer record than any other county, many of whom had at least six in the 30-plus bracket.

Only Nick Speak and Martin Speight were released, with Jimmy Daley being offered an 11th year on the staff, despite his injury-hit season ending with 300 championship runs at 20.0.

Although his off-spin bowling developed nicely, Michael Gough's batting remained more promising than productive and Durham never achieved maximum batting points.

Skipper Jon Lewis was third in the batting averages, and topped the one-day averages after his superb unbeaten 76 off 66 balls against Worcestershire clinched promotion in the final match.

But he would look back on his run of nine lost tosses in the middle of the four-day programme as a big obstacle to progress. Every game tended to be similar as Durham had to field first with a weakened attack and found themselves chasing the game.

That was, in fact, the case in their first win. Durham trailed by 95 on the first innings against Nottinghamshire, but the visitors declared and set a target of 315 in 102 overs.

Love (149 not out) and Lewis (112) put on 258 for the second wicket, 52 more than the previous best for any wicket by Durham in the championship, and they won by eight wickets with an hour to spare.

But the only other championship wins came at Kidderminster, where Law produced a fine all-round performance, and at Hove, where Daley's gritty 89 helped to secure his future and Harmison produced his best new-ball bowling for two years.

While the Benson & Hedges quarter-final defeat at Bristol was a disappointment, Durham went back there in the second round of the C & G Trophy and knocked out the holders in dramatic fashion.

On his first senior one-day appearance, Bridge took three for 44 to win the Man of the Match award as Durham won by three runs.

The seven-wicket defeat by Lancashire in the quarter-final at Blackpool was an anti-climax, but there were plenty of one-day dramas to come.

Peng's brilliant hundred under floodlights at Worcester was not enough to win a thrilling, high-scoring match, but when Worcestershire visited the Riverside for the final-match decider the tables were turned.

Lewis gave Durham a competitive total and Pratt's scintillating leg-side stumping of Graeme Hick proved a key moment as Durham won by nine runs.

They cracked open the champagne then retired to Martin Love's local at Medomsley for further celebrations.

Love has promised to decide by mid-November whether to return next season.

With three academy products, Gordon Muchall, Chris Mann and Phil Mustard, awarded full-time contracts, Love will be one of only six in a staff of 22 who are not from the North-East.

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