DURHAM members have voted wicketkeeper Andrew Pratt as the club's Player of the Year in his first full season of first team cricket.

Martin Speight was preferred for the opening game of the season against Durham University, but when he was injured Pratt stepped in for the first championship match and was ever-present for the rest of the season.

His total of 18 stumpings - seven in the championship and 11 in one-day games - beat the previous Durham record for one season by eight.

Three of the one-day efforts were quite breathtaking, starting with a leg-side effort off James Brinkley to get rid of Mathew Dowman in a Benson & Hedges Cup game at Derby.

The other two were similar efforts off Danny Law. First came the much-publicised removal of Glen Chapple in the C & G Trophy quarter-final at Blackpool, then he finished the season with the crucial stumping of Graeme Hick in Sunday's Norwich Union League promotion decider at the Riverside.

Pratt, 26, made his second team debut in 1994 and has had a long wait for his chance to become recognised as one of the best wicketkeepers in the country.

It was previously felt his batting wasn't good enough, but towards the end of the season he became established as a one-day opener, hitting a top score of 86 in scoring 287 NUL runs at an average of 31.19.

He was presented with the award, sponsored by Sportsnet, at last night's Player of the Year dinner at the Riverside.

He also took the fielding prize, while the bowling award went to Danny Law, batting to Martin Love and the Young Player of the Year, sponsored by The Northern Echo, was Nicky Peng.

Law, in his first season after his move from Essex, was the leading wicket-taker in the championship with 40, while Queenslander Love was easily the leading run scorer with 1,364 at an average of 50.6.

Peng, who is 19 next Tuesday, made his maiden championship hundred against Middlesex and was the only Durham player to score a one-day century. In fact, he made three - one in the C & G Trophy win at home to Hampshire and two in the NUL at Ilford and Worcester.

* Durham will no longer be able to call on the services of Graham Gooch, who was their batting coach last year and continued in a consultancy role this season.

The former England captain is to take over from Keith Fletcher as coach of Essex, who will be joining Durham in the second division of the county championship next season