Durham Cricket launched their Hall of Fame on Wednesday night with a dinner to celebrate the first inductees.
Five of the clubs most influential players Dean Jones, Simon Brown, Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison and David Boon were the first to be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with the clubs most successful Head Coach, Geoff Cook.
After initially joining the club as a player, Geoff Cook became the Director of Cricket at Durham Cricket Club in 1991; helping Durham establish within the professional ranks of cricket; as well as becoming head coach in 2006.
Dean Jones became Durham’s first ever overseas player after having a short and sweet spell at Durham. In his first 14 games at the Club, he scored 1179 runs and had a fantastic career in international cricket for Australia. Sadly, Dean Jones passed away three years ago in Mumbai.
At the time Geoff Cook became director, Simon Brown joined Durham in 1991. Brown stayed at Durham for 10 years as a keen left-arm’d bowler, regularly achieving 50 wickets in the County Championships. Simon set the mark as Durham’s leading wicket taker with a total of 518 wickets in his time.
Paul Collingwood, a Durham and England legend was also inducted on Wednesday. From joining the club in 1995, Paul stayed with the club until 2018. With no fewer than 226 first-class matches for his home county, Collingwood has an impressive 20,000 runs to his name throughout his career and has been considered as one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played for Durham.
The fifth to be inducted was Steve Harmison, who in his time was feared as one of the world’s best fast bowlers. He took over 450 first class wickets for Durham, in addition to a stellar international career with England.
The last inductee was the infamous David Boon. The Australian international joined up with Durham in 1997 and scored over 3000 runs whilst at Durham. Alongside playing for Durham, Boon played a total of 107 tests for Australia and had 4 Ashes wins.
The inductees were presented with commemorative caps at the packed-out event at Seat Unique Riverside; which included messages from David Boon and Jane Jones, the late wife of Dean Jones.
Durham plan on making the Hall of Fame evening an annual event, inducting new Durham Cricket legends every year.