In the centre of Florence is Piazzale Degli Uffizi. It is surrounded by museums, restaurants and fantastic history. And in one corner stands a department store with a roof-top terrace bar. It provides great views over the area. But it’s the sort of place where a bottle of water and a small beer could set you back 15 Euros. Even in 2007. Only a silly tourist would go to such a place and pay such prices. Somebody like me. PS The Irish bars on the other side of the bridge are much cheaper.
The summer of 2007 was one of the wettest on record. I will never forget an attempted trip to Derby for a T20. The weather forecast suggested Armageddon was on the way. But my BBC Radio Derby colleague Charles Collins called me around midday to say it was “cracking the flags”.
So, I set off in the car along with my co-commentator Martin Speight. Whatever weather they were having in Derby was not being repeated on the A1. It was like driving through a swimming pool. We knew the chances of play were virtually nil, but we had to make the journey. Just in case.
We were passing Ferrybridge Services when we decided to call a halt to proceedings. It was lashing down. In the car park teenagers and twenty somethings were pouring off buses, covered from head to toe in mud. Wearing clothes they had been welded into for days. They were returning from Glastonbury Festival. I can’t understand why I have never wanted to go there!
The Durham team made it to Derby but almost didn’t get home. The game obviously didn’t take place. But this was the night of the great floods. Sheffield, Doncaster and Hull were badly affected. A dam near Rotherham started to crack under the pressure of the water behind it and the River Trent poured onto the M1 at Kegworth. The team bus eventually returned home in the early hours.
The rain began weeks earlier in May. As we flew to Tuscany at the end of the month for a holiday with pals, me and my wife believed we’d leave the rain behind. We didn’t. It followed us everywhere. Lucca was beautiful, but wet and cold. So too Siena. We were caught in an incredible thunderstorm there.
I won’t forget the sight of a couple walking up the main street in nothing but their underwear after being completely soaked through. They were carrying the rest of their clothes and were beyond caring.
In Florence we dodged the rain where we could. I found the tomb of Marconi, one of the pioneers of radio, but decided against the queues for the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum. Instead we opted for a café of the same name, which had free internet access.
An American woman was on the one computer available. She was reporting the theft of her handbag, passport and credit cards. “Be careful in this town” she said as she headed for the door and I replaced her at the world’s slowest computer. There was a reason I was there. Durham were playing at home to Notts that day in their penultimate game in the Friends Provident “Northern Conference”. Yes, it was a conference. How many of you remember that title?
A win would secure a place in the semi-finals for the first time. Notts made 238-8 in their 50 overs. And as I tapped down the screen Durham had beaten them by one run. A semi final beckoned. And I had something to look forward to. In those days the only commentaries we did on BBC Radio Newcastle were T20 matches. But I knew a semi final would be important enough to add to the list.
Durham hosted Essex a few weeks later. It had been raining in the build-up to the game and a heavy overnight downpour brought a late start because the outfield was wet.
Durham put their opponents in and bowled them out for 71 with Liam Plunkett taking 4-15. Alastair Cook got a duck. They had been 38-7 before Andy Bichel hit 24 runs. Speighty and I couldn’t believe how easy it had been. Surely Durham were on their way to Lords’? But no! They were soon 38-7 as well as Bichel fought back with the ball, taking 4-22 on a seamer!
I couldn’t remember a situation where I had been so nervous on air. Not since my first live broadcast many moons earlier. The heart was pounding against the rib cage. The mouth was dry. And all I was doing was commentating. I didn’t even have to bat on that wicket.
Michael Di Venuto went for duck. (0-1) Phil Mustard left a ball and was out for two. (4-2). Paul Collingwood went LBW to Bichel for one. (6-3). It was carnage. But then Liam Plunkett came to the middle and smashed the ball around for 30 quick runs and it was all over.
It was the lowest-scoring semi-final in the competition’s history. Nine Essex players failed to make double figures. Seven Durham players did the same. Five of the Essex batsmen got ducks. Neil Killeen and Ottis Gibson did their bit with three wickets each as well. Who’d be a batsman on a day like that?
It was all over by tea on one of the most stressful days of cricket I can remember. It didn’t get started until 12.10pm. But Durham were heading to Lords’.
There’s been a common theme in recent years. People rush to write off Durham while queuing up to back their rivals. 2013 was a prime example. Most had Durham to go down while Surrey were going to be champions. Guess what happened? Most of those who made their early season forecasts in newspapers and websites back in 2013 rarely went near a day of county cricket. Predictions, eh?
By the time we arrived in London for the final in 2007 the football season had returned so cricket was already battling for space once again. Sadly, Steve Harmison couldn’t play. He’d picked up a side injury. The scans were so bad one doctor thought he’d been in a car accident.
Harmi was obviously devastated but was determined to be there and witness events first-hand. But we were able to lure him up to the commentary box during the game and he joined us on air, for one of the best views in the house.
The day before the game the sides held press conferences in the Lord’s Museum. And to me it seemed everybody had already written Durham off. Hampshire captain Shane Warne was in bullish mood. He’d played at Lord’s numerous times before and generally did well there. His side boasted star names like Kevin Pietersen, Michael Carberry and Michael Lumb. They had Sean Irvine and Chris Tremlett too and were brimming with internationals and experience.
When Dale Benkenstein entered the room, he was slightly annoyed. He’d heard some of the things said during the Hampshire news briefing and told the ranks of reporters Durham weren’t simply there to make up the numbers.
The first time I went to Lord’s to cover a final was with Northumberland in the Minor Counties Knockout Trophy in 2004. I got a taxi from Kings Cross with some of the Northumberland players. I was staying at a hotel next to the ground and they were up in Swiss Cottage.
The Northumberland lads were heading for an early night in their rooms. They were taking the game seriously. Perhaps too seriously. The Berkshire team were in my hotel and I chatted with a few of their players at the bar. They were there to enjoy the experience and they were still at the bar when I headed for bed at about 11pm.
The next day Northumberland were put in and struggled. They were all out for 237. Nerves seem to have got to them. Berkshire secured a seven-wicket win. Two years later Northumberland were back at Lord’s but didn’t make the same mistake. They took a more relaxed approach to matters and won quite easily. They beat Dorset by eight wickets.
I am reminded of a documentary I once saw about Wimbledon when they beat Liverpool in the FA Cup final of 1988. The players were climbing the walls in their hotel the night before the game so manager Bobby Gould gave them some money and told them to go to the pub.
I think Brian Clough did that with the Forest players the night before they won the European Cup as well, so there is evidence taking a slightly more relaxed approach to these things can help. And that’s what Durham did the night before the Hampshire final of 2007. The players went for a team meal and a few beers. They had a good night bonding.
Then back at the hotel some of them popped into the bar for a night cap. Phil Mustard joined us for a beer. But then other people came over and started offering to buy The Colonel a pint too. To cut a long story short The Colonel was eventually summonsed to bed by his beloved. There was a big cheer in the bar as he left because after all, he could be opening the next morning.
In the build-up to the start of play the next day myself and Speighty wondered about “the state of mind The Colonel might be in” and used other such code to suggest we were slightly worried. Remember this was all about Shane Warne. It was all about Hampshire, who had a great pedigree, putting Durham in on a cloudy morning and rolling them over. It was about Hampshire getting the job done.
Durham had other ideas. They were put in under gloomy skies but by the time their innings came to an end they’d scored the highest total in a 50 over Lord’s final. Coincidentally breaking the record set by my commentary partner Mr Speight during his days playing for Sussex.
As it turned out The Colonel was in a great frame of mind. He blazed a quickfire 49 before he was out, only for Kyle Coetzer and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to put on 111 for the third wicket. Kyle made 61 and Shiv 77 and Durham were in Comfort City.
Warne didn’t take a wicket. His 10 overs cost 46 runs. Chris Tremlett’s nine overs failed to bring a wicket and cost 59 runs. While Darren Powell took 2-80 from his ten. Durham finished on 312-5 thanks to 61 from skipper Dale Benkenstein as well.
Things would only get better from there. Ottis Gibson, at the age of 38 and in his last season, had the ball in his hand as Hampshire started their reply. He’d already taken all 10 wickets in a Hampshire innings at Durham earlier in the season in the County Championship.
Michael Lumb went first ball, caught by Michael Di Venuto at second slip. The fielder holding onto the ball despite heavily strapped fingers. Gibson then got Sean Irvine with the next delivery, also thanks to Diva. Kevin Pietersen survived the hat-trick ball but when Gibson struck him on the pads a few minutes later the batsman didn’t even bother to wait for the umpire’s finger of doom. He turned and departed for 12. Hampshire were 17-3.
It would have been fantastic for Durham to wrap things up that day. The fact the rain came later in the afternoon and pushed the match into a second day was a shame, particularly for the many Durham fans who were back in the North East by the time the game concluded on the Sunday afternoon.
John Crawley was one of the reasons it went into the spare day. He should have been run out on one but managed to make 68 as the middle order rallied for a while.
Durham knew there was still work to be done with Hampshire 158-5. But that night in the team hotel Harmi invited us to have a few drinks and a buffet with the players and their families in a suite. It was a quiet celebration. But barring a massive turnaround the next day Durham were going to win.
Hampshire were eventually bowled out for 187 to lose by 125 runs. Liam Plunkett and Paul Collingwood took the five remaining batsmen on day two in just 40 minutes. The match lasted just 8.3 overs on the Sunday. It ended just before the rain returned. And having taken 3-24 with the ball Ottis Gibson was the Man of the Match. The Colonel was the top scorer in the country in the 2007 FP Trophy with 484 runs. Otis Gibson was the leading bowler with 22 wickets.
It was the start of a special era for Durham. So much hard work had been but in by a group of people who originally had the vision to push for First Class status. And the rewards were starting to come. And with Geoff Cook at the helm, it was apt. He had been there from the beginning.
Looking back all of these years later. One thing sticks in my mind. That was a really good team. And you know what? They weren’t there simply to make up the numbers.