Cricket writer Tim Wellock looks back on a glorious 2007 for Durham in which they lifted their first silverware on a memorable day at Lord's last month, were just pipped for the county championship, and won promotion to Pro 40 Division One.

They also boasted cricketer of the year, Ottis Gibson, who took all ten wickets in a game against Hampshire.

THE greatest day in Durham's history saw them land their first silverware at Lord's on August 18 with a performance of skill and amazing bravado for a club contesting its first one-day final.

Formerly the Gillette, the NatWest and the C & G, it was now the Friends Provident Trophy and Durham became its first winners when they thrashed Hampshire by 125 runs.

It was the day when Man of the Match, Ottis Gibson, confirmed that he had Hants in his pants.

A month after taking ten wickets in an innings against Hampshire, the 38-year-old Barbadian capped Durham's wonderful performance with a spectacular intervention either side of the interval.

Coming in with two overs left, he contributed 15 off seven balls as he and Dale Benkenstein added 33 runs to lift Durham to 312 for five, the highest total in an English 50-over final. Then, with the first two balls of Hampshire's innings, Gibson propelled the 6,000 joyous Durham fans into even greater raptures.

Hitting a perfect length on off stump, with balls slanted across them, he found the edge of two left-handers' bats and Michael Di Venuto pouched the catches at second slip to remove Michael Lumb and Sean Ervine.

Gibson's all-ten put him in the record books; this fairytale start cemented his place in Durham folklore. But he needed one final coup de grace to make sure of victory.

At none for two after two balls, in came Kevin Pietersen. He had made 12 when Gibson snared him in the ninth over with a ball which skidded through a shade low, homing in on the pads like a heat-seeking missile. Pietersen was gone without waiting for the raised finger which indicated that if the contest hadn't already been over it was now.

Gibson, Benkenstein and Shivnarine Chanderpaul may have been Durham's star performers in a match in which they were robbed of Steve Harmison by injury, but three of the five local lads made significant contributions, as did Kyle Coetzer.

The Aberdonian nurtured in the Durham Academy took up the cudgels after the swashbuckling Phil Mustard had launched the run-fest with 49 off 38 balls. Of the eight sixes in the innings, Coetzer hit the biggest, picked up over square leg into the top tier of the Grandstand off Ervine's medium pace, only to fall for 61 two balls later.

After asking Durham to bat, Shane Warne remained wicketless. Daren Powell conceded 80 runs in ten overs and Dimitri Mascarenhas went for 45 off six.

Chris Tremlett was reduced to bowling a beamer at Gibson after being pulled for a mighty six and driven imperiously to the cover boundary.

The other blemishes on an otherwise glorious occasion involved the weather and the much-maligned referrals. When Mustard was adjudged lbw to James Bruce replays showed the ball had pitched outside leg stump, to which Mustard was alerted just before reaching the gate. He turned in obvious confusion, but it was a futile gesture as the rules said referrals should be immediate.

Durham therefore reacted swiftly when they felt a drive by Pietersen had brushed Gibson's hand before hitting the non-striker's stumps with John Crawley well out of his ground. Peter Hartley said "not out"; Gibson disagreed, as did most commentators on seeing the replay, but Trevor Jesty, the third umpire, maintained the competition's record of referrals having a 100 per cent failure rate.

Crawley's 68 off 93 balls never threatened to keep Hampshire afloat as the match inevitably descended into anti-climax, heightened by the arrival of rain with the score on 158 for five after 32.3 overs. Most Durham fans returned home, wondering why Duckworth/Lewis could not have been used to crown their champions on the day. They also knew the reserve day's forecast was poor, but play resumed at 12.30 and Hampshire succumbed in 8.3 overs as Paul Collingwood and Liam Plunkett joined Gibson in earning three wickets each.

After thrashing Leicestershire at Grace Road in their first group match, Durham's route to the final suffered a nasty jolt with a home defeat by Derbyshire.

Durham slipped from 85 for one in the 18th over to 90 for five as Tom Lungley took three wickets in 12 balls after conceding 28 in his opening three-over spell. Derbyshire were 14 for two in reply when Simon Katich, back on the ground where he played in 2000, took command. He drove to long-off with 45 needed off 12 overs, but fellow Australian Ian Harvey completed a four-wicket win with an unbeaten 60 off 59 balls.

Durham were quickly back on track with a crucial 57-run win at home to last year's group winners, Lancashire.

Fielding three England players for the first time, Durham's Collingwood, Harmison and Plunkett upstaged Lancashire's Flintoff, Anderson and Mahmood. In his first one-day appearance for the county Kyle Coetzer helped Collingwood put on 93 in 16 overs for the third wicket before Durham stuttered. Even after Plunkett plundered a swift 33 they looked 30 short of requirements, but superb bowling and fielding throttled Lancashire.

The tightest finish was at Northampton, where Mustard's maiden one-day century and an unbeaten 97 from Benkenstein carried Durham to a four-wicket win off the last ball.

Will Smith, dropped on nought, made an unbeaten 62 in a five-wicket win against Scotland, and followed up with a century as they beat Worcestershire by 143 runs after amassing their record one-day total of 332 for four.

Scott Styris scored 98 in a 53-run win at Headingley, then came the drama at home to Nottinghamshire as Durham won by one wicket to book their place in a one-day semi-final for the first time. Needing 239, they looked to be cruising while Mustard was racing to a 42-ball half-century but they had slipped to 120 for five in the 28th over when Gareth Breese went in. When he was joined by last man Neil Killeen 21 were needed off four overs but Breese got them with an over to spare, finishing on 68.

If that was nerve-racking, what of the semi-final against Essex? In a match played the day after the rain-affected fourth Test against the West Indies ended at Riverside there was further heavy rain overnight and the start was delayed by 85 minutes until 12.10.

Although there was moisture around, it offered little explanation for both sides crumbling to 38 for seven. At that point in Durham's reply Plunkett went in to score 30 of the remaining 34 runs. He should have lost Gibson, his partner in the winning stand, with the total on 39. But Kaneria dropped the chance at mid-on and when Napier followed up with a no-ball Plunkett drove the resultant free-hit for a straight six.

Otherwise he scored his runs through sensible batting rather than desperate hitting on a pitch which offered just enough movement for the ball to find the edge or earn lbws. Gibson and Killeen exploited the conditions superbly to take three wickets each, then Plunkett took the rest.

Durham's promotion in the NatWest Pro40 League, following last season's relegation, was confirmed when they won the final match by 70 runs at home to Glamorgan. They finished top with six wins out of eight as previous leaders Somerset lost at home to Middlesex on the same day.

The defeats came at Canterbury and Taunton, where they were beaten by outstanding performances from Darren Stevens and Andrew Caddick, but there was a good win at Guildford and an easy one at Chesterfield.

All the home games were won comfortably apart from the floodlit one against Middlesex, when play began three hours late at 7.40 in front of around 1,500 spectators.

The visitors made 145 for eight in their 19 overs, with top scorer Eion Morgan falling to one of three catches by Muchall immediately after completing a 45-ball half-century. But the outstanding fielder was Garry Park with two superb running catches in the deep, plus a run out. Di Venuto was out to the first ball of Durham's reply on his comeback after a month's absence with a badly-broken finger, but Mustard atoned with 49 off 21 balls as they won by five wickets with three balls to spare.

That might have been the perfect Twenty20 performance, but Durham still couldn't get to grips with the shortest form of the game, blighted as it was by dreadful weather.

Mustard's 29-ball 50 saw them to an eight-wicket win in a 13-over match at home to Leicestershire, but that was Durham's only victory and there were no more half-centuries. Top of the averages was Muchall, who was dismissed only once in scoring 104 runs in four innings, and the best bowler was Breese with eight for 87.

Two games didn't start, the one at Grace Road lasted 4.4 overs, there was a nine-overs-a-side farce on a Saturday evening at Headingley, and the two defeats by Lancashire featured innings of 80 not out and 89 by Mal Loye.

Those who dislike Twenty20, and there are plenty of us, can argue that Durham should wear their record as the worst performing county as a badge of honour. It would sit nicely with everything they have won this season in proper cricket. Rotten summer? Not for Durham