The 2013 Durham CCC Tees Valley awards were one of the highlights of another glittering NYSD presentation evening held at the Marton Hotel and Country Club in late November.
On a special night former England and Leicestershire wicket keeper Paul Nixon joined Durham’s Geoff Cook and Jamie Harrison, both former NYSD players, in making the presentations, with a packed audience of almost 400 showing their appreciation for the outstanding achievements of the winners.
The NYSD League was instrumental in the resurrection of the DCCC awards in 2009 and they have done a superb job in hosting them each year since then. The awards, which are adjudicated by Geoff Cook, are seen as an important link between the County Club and the south of the region – they specifically recognise achievements by cricketers and volunteers in the Tees Valley area – and are open to individuals in the NYSD, Darlington, Langbaurgh and Cleveland leagues, as well as other cricketing organisations.
The two player categories had impressive shortlists with the top award of player of the year seeing James Lowe (Middlesbrough), Gary Pratt (Richmondshire), Whalid Ghauri (Marton), Richard Waite (Stockton) and Dion Wood (Rockliffe Park) all in the running for the major prize.
But it was the sheer weight of his imposing statistics that earned Boro skipper James Lowe the nod over the other contenders. Lowe hit the high spots with 1090 league runs at an average of 47.39, as well as 56 wickets at just 15.66 apiece. The fact that he also kept wicket on several occasions and claimed 15 catches meant he could claim to be the ultimate all-rounder.
The emerging player of the year award (for players aged 18 and under) saw three outstanding youngsters making the shortlist – Callum Buckley (Darlington RA), Paul Braithwaite (Seaton Carew) and Tom Preece (Stokesley).
Buckley and Braithwaite played key roles in the victorious Durham side which emulated the seniors by winning the under 17 county championship, and it was Buckley’s sensational bowling performance in that county final against Kent that eventually proved the decisive factor in earning him the accolade.
Callum, who’s older brother Ryan made a sensational first-class debut for Durham earlier in the summer, returned the staggering figures of 15.3 overs, 13 maidens, five wickets for 7 runs in that final against Kent. But that was just the icing on a sensational seasonal cake that saw him take a total of 113 wickets and score more than 1000 runs in all cricket, and the county success completed a remarkable hat-trick of representative titles as the youngster helped the NYSD under 17s claim a Yorkshire county trophy, and the NYSD under 21s take the North East inter-league championship.
The ‘Outstanding Service to Cricket’ award proved hugely popular as Normanby Hall’s Neil Hutchinson was rewarded for his years of unstinting service to the game of cricket, and in particular the amazing amount of work he put into his club to get them through the 2013 season. Normanby had to endure the traumas of playing every single game, both senior and junior, away from their Cricket Lane ground after severe weather related problems delayed the relaying of their pitch, and it was primarily through his efforts that his club successfully completed all of their commitments.