Run-hungry trio provide basis for Durham's double triumph

Under the inspirational leadership of Mike Hussey they were so swift out of the blocks that the double was firmly on the cards before their momentum was interrupted by the Twenty20 Cup.

It was never fully regained, but with the South African one-day international Dale Benkenstein providing the sort of reliability Durham have rarely witnessed they hung on to finish second in both tables.

For the first time they had three men past 1,000 runs in the championship in Hussey, Benkenstein and Paul Collingwood, whose six centuries were also a county record.

The four successive wins with which they started the season had not been achieved by Durham before and the final total of six victories equalled their best, set in 1999, when they qualified for the inaugural division one. That year they also lost seven times and finished with 188 points; this time they lost only twice and amassed 205 points.

The promotion double was confirmed on the same glorious weekend as Liam Plunkett was named in the England one-day squad for Pakistan after becoming the first Durham bowler to pass 50 championship wickets since Simon Brown in 2000.

If there is a warning to be heeded it is that in their only previous season in the top flight Durham could choose their seam attack from Brown, Harmison, Betts, Wood and Killeen.

Even if they are successful in re-signing Mick Lewis and have Mark Davies and Plunkett regularly available, they don't appear to have such bowling depth now.

Lewis did well in his two brief stints either side of Ashley Noffke's injury-ruined stay, which began six weeks late in an echo of the problems with overseas bowlers in 2004.

That was the last ill omen for some time, however, as Hussey won his first toss at Leicester, pulled the first ball of the match for four and went on to score 253. Only Martin Love had scored more for Durham and Martyn Moxon described the innings as "worth a million words from a coach."

Victory by an innings and 216 runs was Durham's biggest in the championship, and the only other team they hadn't beaten in a first-class game, Lancashire, succumbed by nine wickets at Old Trafford in May.

Hussey carried his bat for 144 in that match and Steve Harmison recorded his best Durham figures of six or 52. In his four matches before disappearing for England duty he took 27 wickets at 14.52.

With Davies and Plunkett also prolific wicket-takers in those early games, while Benkenstein, Collingwood, Gordon Muchall, Jon Lewis, Gareth Breese and Phil Mustard chipped in with useful runs, Durham looked a far better side than at any time in their first-class life.

The spirit was reflected by their sharpness in the field and one of the features was the slip catching, with Hussey, Collingwood and Breese never missing a thing.

Hussey had always promised to be the shrewdest of signings, partly because it seemed that at 30 the chance of an international career had passed him by and he would be available for the full season.

That turned out not to be the case and one-day duty with Australia took him away for six weeks in mid-season, and as Collingwood followed him shortly afterwards it was agreed that Benkenstein should hold the reins.

He scored the first of his four centuries in his second championship match in charge as Durham beat Essex by an innings and 19 runs at Riverside after leading by 399 on first innings.

By the time of the Twenty20 Cup, Durham had won five out of eight games in both competitions and were well clear in both tables.

Durham rested Noffke and Davies in the Twenty20 and with Hussey's replacement, New Zealander Nathan Astle, failing to live up to expectations, they won only two out of eight games.

They were then thrashed by an innings and 228 runs by Lancashire at Riverside, a game in which Jon Lewis broke his left collar bone in four places following an awkward fall in the field.

His season was over, but Hussey returned and scored 97 in a floodlit totesport win at Derby, where Collingwood's glorious purple patch began with an innings of 190 in the championship clash.

A second innings double century by Michael di Venuto, followed by rain, prevented Durham gaining their sixth win, but it came the following week at Taunton.

Collingwood became the first Durham batsman to score two centuries in a championship match, hitting 181 and 105 not out, his second innings ton coming off only 73 balls, another Durham record. Breese took nine wickets in the match as victory was secured by 207 runs.

At the end of July they were 24 points clear with 165 from 11 games, but they managed only 40 points from the remaining five matches.

A two-wicket defeat in an excellent game at Essex's new ground in Southend was followed by four rain-affected draws, but in each of those last five matches Durham conceded a substantial first innings deficit.

They were nothing like the side they had been at the start of the season, but that was partly because Hussey and Mick Lewis were called away for an Australia A tour to Pakistan.

Finding replacements with recent form proved impossible and Jimmy Maher and Brad Williams arrived from Australia after not playing for four months. They had insufficient time to settle in, and although they were praised for their commitment and contribution to team spirit they failed to make much impact.

Davies threatened to be the first bowler in the country to 50 championship wickets for the second successive season. But having suffered a side strain immediately after reaching the target last year, this time he was left on 47 when a stress fracture of the back ruled him out in the middle of the Southend match.

As he had taken his wickets at 15.55 it went without saying that he was badly missed and the lack of bowling depth was exposed in the closing weeks.

Mark Turner and Graham Onions had both been tried and did well enough initially before fading.

Spin will also be a concern going into division one as Graeme Bridge missed most of the season with a stress fracture of the back and Breese took 19 of his 27 wickets in three successive games in the second half of the season.

If there were other downsides they were the lack of progress by home-grown batsmen and pitches which turned the last six home totesport matches into poor spectacles.

Those pitches clearly don't suit Nicky Peng and the batsman of whom so much was expected when he made 98 on his debut at home to Surrey in 2000 looks likely to be lost to the county which has tried hard to nurture him.

His 39 in his first knock at Leicester was his top championship score, and three successive totesport 50s failed to save him from the axe in mid-season. He now looks likely to join Glamorgan.

There was also a surprising lack of opportunity for Gary Pratt, especially considering that Gavin Hamilton, now retired, was entrusted with opening the batting towards the end of the totesport programme.

Kyle Coetzer had no first team chances, so Gary Scott was the only young batsman to progress, showing an aptitude for the opener's role following Jon Lewis's injury.

The opening of the media centre in time for Riverside's second Test match against Bangladesh provided further proof that everything is progressing, with a slight question mark over the pitches. Work to remedy that is on-going, but the suspicion remains that there will be no "proper" Test match until it has succeeded.

Pitch problems were evident from the first home match, when Worcestershire were beaten in two days. Not that Harmison needed any assistance to hurry the visitors' second innings to a close with the first hat-trick of Durham's first-class life. All were bowled as he beat James Pipe for pace, yorked Matt Mason and bowled David Wigley via an inside edge.

That was the start of an unforgettable summer for Harmison, who was joined by Collingwood for the Ashes-clinching final Test at the Oval.

It was the first time two Durham players had appeared in the same Test and provided yet more confirmation that the county is on the march.

Read more about Durham here.