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Titles, setbacks and a reset: 30 years of Durham in the County Championship
Durham have had their fair share of ups and downs since making the step up to the County Championship in 1992
By Jo Harman for Wisden Cricket Monthly
“It was a bit like The Magnificent Seven, and I use that comparison in the most liberal sense,” says David Graveney of Durham’s breakout summer of 1992. Having mined the local leagues and offered a last hurrah to a motley crew of ageing stars, it was Larkins, Botham and Bainbridge rather than McQueen, Bronson and Brynner who took the field for the club’s first season as a first-class county.
Graveney, then 39, arrived in the north-east having spent a solitary season at Somerset following almost 20 years with Gloucestershire. It was his task to captain the side after being convinced to take on the role by his close friend Geoff Cook. “Working with Geoff was just a dream come true for me,” says the former left-arm spinner. “He had enthusiasm, calmness, wisdom, and he’d been a fantastic player.”
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