Durham walk the walk to the title as Surrey's money talks in vain | Vic Marks
by Vic Marks
Cricket news, scores and fixtures | Sport | The GuardianToday, 02:30
The championship was won with a slim budget and homespun team while big spending at The Oval came to relegation
It is one of the charms of county cricket that money does not necessarily buy trophies. Already in the infant Premier League table the top six positions are held by the boys with a budget. But look at the championship table as the cricket season comes to an end. At the top, champions, are Durham; at the bottom, relegated, are Surrey.
Durham were once one of the big spenders on the county circuit but for the 2013 season, faced with a huge deficit, they were compelled to cut costs. So out went the big earners, their old England players Ian Blackwell, Liam Plunkett and Steve Harmison, ditched from the first team. Overseas player? Sorry, can't afford one of them. With a reduced budget the assumption was that it would be a battle for survival for Durham in 2013. With empty coffers how could they hope to compete?
Well, it has been some survival battle, ending with the championship pennant. Durham have won 10 games out of 15with a bowling attack that is barely recognisable outside the north-east. Graham Onions and Ben Stokes are well enough known but how many people south of the Wear would ogle at Chris Rushworth, Mark Wood, Jamie Harrison or Usman Arshad walking down the high street?
Their leading runscorers are Mark Stoneman, another local lad, and Scott Borthwick, who was batting at eight last season before someone had the bright idea of sending him in at three. To make the story all the more remarkable Durham's long-standing head coach, Geoff Cook, suffered a cardiac arrest mid-season and so has had to monitor much of the season from afar. Meanwhile the captain, Paul Collingwood, shrugged his shoulders, lamented that he cannot hit the ball as he used to and quietly got on with shepherding his team to their destination with the minimum of fuss, psychobabble or money.
Contrast that with the plight of Surrey. No deficit for them but not much success either. They went for the galácticos. Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting and Hashim Amla, superb batsmen and excellent role models, have all played for them this season. But it seems that the county's ambition has not been matched by good fortune or sound planning.
Smith was expected to be the key, not just for his runs but for his no-nonsense capacity to mould a team as captain. He departed injured after three matches; Ponting averaged 123 in four games but none of them was won.
Amla, the final straw clutched, has contributed but his failure to score a run in the recent match at Taunton was a severe dent to Surrey's hopes of survival. Even Kevin Pietersen popped up for one match at Headingley, cracking an unbeaten 177 before resuming his England duties.
Alongside the galácticos there have been the imports of the last few years, fine players even though a fair proportion of them had reached their peak by the time Surrey called: Steven Davies, Gareth Batty, Jon Lewis, Chris Tremlett, Zander de Bruyn, Vikram Solanki and Gary Keedy – substantial cricketers commanding substantial salaries.
Yet cheque-book team-building, compulsory in football's Premier League it seems, guarantees nothing in cricket. It can be a short cut to nowhere. Somehow retaining a local identity with a predominantly homegrown side still seems to matter.
Surrey should know this better than most. When they stormed to the championship in 1999 – the first of three triumphs in four years – it was truly a family affair. There were two Butchers, sons of Alan; Alec Stewart, son of Micky, two Hollioakes and two Bicknells as well as Graham Thorpe and Alex Tudor. There were also a few critical imports, who may not have been regarded as galácticos at the time, but who gave the captain, Adam Hollioake, some delicious spinning options: Ian Salisbury and Saqlain Mushtaq. But the bulk of the side had grown up together in the second team.
So, if there is a discernible pattern to county success, it is likely to include a high proportion of players nurtured by the club from a young age.
The imports are important and a shrewd one can make all the difference. In the last couple of decades Pakistan has provided some of the best: Saqlain, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed, who would bowl all day for Sussex when they won their championships.
But now the problem is that the galáctico import is seldom available for more than half a season and in any case for the very best players there is an ever more congested schedule and more money to be earned elsewhere for less toil. This year Durham have proved it is possible to win without an overseas signing at all, a brave decision driven by financial necessity but not one that is likely to be followed by many counties next summer.
Durham have also demonstrated how far a superbly led, inexperienced, enthusiastic and united dressing room can go. Better still, they have demonstrated that in cricket neither the bookies' favourite nor the bankers' favourite is bound to prevail.
County Championship 2013 Division One
Durham
Surrey
County Championship Division One
Cricket
Vic Marks
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