History

A Brief History of the Durham University Staff Cricket Club

This history is based mostly on notes gleaned from the historical documents kept by the club, and
formed the basis of a verbal presentation at the club’s 75th anniversary dinner in 2024.

Nigel Metcalfe (Captain 1992-1993, Secretary 1996-2010)

The first official AGM of the club took place on 1st December 1949, where it was decided that the club was to be known as the “Durham Colleges Staff Cricket Club”. Membership was to be open to “full-time teachers and administrative officers of the Durham Colleges and such other persons as may be invited by the Executive Committee”.
The first chairman was Prof. J.L. Burchall (Maths), who went on to be awarded an OBE (presumably not for his services to cricket!). Sir James Duff was asked to be president (just described as the “Warden” in subsequent AGMs, which is slightly confusing as Durham only had vice-chancellors by this time – however it would seem that he accepted the role). There was an initial subscription for members of 10s (about £14 in today’s money), although this was rapidly raised to 15s in 1952! In these early days there was a selection committee consisting of captain, vice-captain and one elected member.
Somewhat confusingly, despite the AGM date, the scorebooks show that several games took place in summer 1949, so the club must have already existed unofficially. There is also a record of a game against the undergraduates in 1948. There is no information prior to 1948, so whether there was a club pre-war is unknown.

Durham School staff were one of our earliest opponents (who we still, occasionally, play today), along with the Police and in 1951 we played St Georges Rovers, a fixture which has just been revived this season. We pass over quickly the fact that that Staff’s lowest ever score of 25 all out was recorded against McKays Carpet Factory on July 16th 1951. In 1953, when playing the by then annual undergraduate fixture, Staff found themselves facing one Frank Tyson, who made his England Test debut the following year. Frank took 3-9 in 5 overs and Staff lost by 140 runs.
In 1953 we find the first mention of a proposal for a club dance, although it is not clear if this took place. However, in 1955 a dinner for Durham School staff was arranged and did take place. 1958 brings the first mention of a club dinner – this was postponed to 1959, and it is not reported if it ever took place.
On the playing side, to make up for the McKays Carpet debacle, in 1955 Houghall were bowled out for 22 in a resounding 7 wicket victory, including 6-4 in 8 overs by I. Graham. This might be the lowest score Staff have bowled a side out for.
In 1956 there was a number crisis (the first of many over the years!) and it was agreed that postgraduate students in their 4th or 5th years could be invited to become members of the club.
Sadly, the AGM records for 1962-1968 have been lost, although we do have the treasurer’s reports for 1966/7/8, and results for all years. At some stage in this period, before 1966, the club was renamed to “Durham University Staff Cricket Club”. Also, in 1966 we have the first mention of a charge of 3/- per game for teas, although “teas” seem to have been a regular income stream in the accounts since 1950.

In 1966, Grenville Holland, who became Mayor of Durham City in 2008, and has been a regular attendee at recent dinners, joined the club. Grenville points out he scored 70 n.o. against Newcastle University in 1967. He took over as club treasurer in 1968. Also joining in the 1966 was Peter Collins, who went on to play for Staff for another 41 years (a record, we think).
In 1969 the first mention of an annual Festival of University cricket appears. This seems to mainly have involved northern universities, and went of for several years. A joint Durham/Newcastle staff team won the 1969 competition, which was held in Hull. The following year it was held in Newcastle. Subsequent tournaments were held at Sheffield and Leeds.
Brian Lander was elected captain for the 1970 season. Brian played Minor Counties cricket for Durham from 1963 to 1986, and captained them to their famous Gillette Cup victory over Yorkshire in 1973. He later become our club chairman.
Controversially, in 1972 a charge per game of 50p (decimalisation!) was voted in, to replace the annual subscription, but as a trial for one season only. Naturally it was never rescinded! Also on the financial side, until he retired in 1973, the club paid a stipend to the University groundsman (and his wife).
1973 brings the first ever mention of indoor nets at Maiden Castle, now a regular feature of the club’s season. Believe it or not, the club had 13 vice-presidents at this stage, who seem to have paid for the privilege!
In 1974 Peter Collins took over from Grenville Holland as club treasurer. The club also reverted to its original name “Durham Colleges Staff Cricket Club”, ostensibly because players from the Durham Technical College (now part of New College) were regularly turning out for the club. Finances were obviously not great, as after four years, in 1976 the annual subscription was reintroduced (at £1), but the per game fee remained.
In 1977, Ted Hughes took 9-11 in 11 overs against Bede College, still the record bowling performance to this day.

In 1979, for the first time it was acknowledged that some Staff games may have to be played at Maiden Castle rather than on the Racecourse (which had been Staff’s home ground since 1949). Move on 40 or so years and Staff have virtually no games on the Racecourse any more.

Once again we have a missing set of AGM reports from 1980 to 1982, although the accounts and results remain. During this period we seem to have lost our batch of vice-presidents, and indeed by 1984 we have no president either. Intriguingly, in 1983 the club spent no money at all! Perhaps this is why the annual subscription was (again) abolished that year, with just match fees remaining (still at 50p, although by the next year this had been raised to £1).
At the 1984 AGM a ‘revised’ constitution, which has been agreed with Maiden Castle, was formally adopted (although there is no record of a previous written constitution). Of interest is the line “Membership is open to all employees of the University of Durham, its Associated Colleges, and, at the discretion of the Officers of the Club, a number of external members limited to six, or ten percent of the membership, whichever is the the greatest.”
In 1988 Staff played their first charity game against Durham City council, in aid of the Mayor’s appeal. This became an annual fixture until 2002.

In 1991 all Staff matches were moved to Maiden Castle. Peter Collins stood down as treasurer and John White took over (who had been secretary since 1985).
In 1992, having joined the club in either 1987 or 1988, I became captain, basically because no-one else would do it! There was an unwritten (as far as I can tell) rule that captains were only expected to do two years in the job – with the odd exception this remains to this day. In the following year, present club chairman Tony Cleaver played his first game.
In 1995, R. Field scored 107 n.o. against Grey SCR in a 25 over game. This is the highest score ever recorded for Staff. The same year, after a surprise resignation left the club in a bit of turmoil, I found myself taking over the secretary duties (although I wasn’t actually appointed until the following AGM). 15 years later I managed to resign – the longest secretarial stint in club history.
1996 was a sad year, as it brought with it the death of Professor Euan Squires, who collapsed at the crease whilst batting for the Staff against Gradsoc on the evening of Thursday June 6th 1996. Euan had been a stalwart of both Staff and Grey SCR teams for many years. The following year an annual Euan Squires Trophy game against Grey SCR was inaugurated. This has been played for ever since, although its future seems uncertain.
On a brighter note, in 1996 M. Goodall scored 100 and 102 (both retired not out) against Grey SCR and Gradsoc respectively. The latter game remains our highest ever score in 25 overs or under (192-8), although some 20 over games have come close recently. We should probably also note a defeat to the Mayor’s charity XI at dominoes, when bad weather prevented cricket! In this year the club website first made its appearance. Financially the club received a welcome windfall of £2249.55 in 1997, when Northern Rock, with whom the club banked, transformed from a Building Society into a Bank. This was also the year when match start times, traditionally 4:30pm, were put back to 5pm.
In 1998 the club purchased its first kit with logos (jumpers). A couple still remain in service! Annoyingly, some of the club’s fixtures were moved to MC2, the artificial wicket.
In 2000 the club held a 50th anniversary dinner in Castle (on July 3rd). It seems to have gone down well, as from then on there has been an annual dinner (apart from during the Covid epidemic). Tony Cleaver was elected as captain. The following year John White stood down as treasurer.
In 2001 and 2002, the undergraduates were left in charge of arranging the cricket fixtures and managed to omit Staff entirely, which led to some strong words with the Maiden Castle hierarchy! A lack of availability of nets at Maiden Castle had left us using Durham School for our winter nets. Match fees were raised to £2 a game in 2002.
With the Durham Mayor’s XI folding, in 2003 we moved our charity aims to the Mayor of Stockton’s XI. This fixture only lasted a couple of years. In the same year a college cricket league was instigated, but without the participation of staff. Of note that summer was the appearance in the team of England player Caroline Atkins, who had made her international debut in 2001 and was working at Maiden Castle over the summer.

2004 brought the excitement of our participation in the Durham World Club Friendship Cricket festival, albeit with several players ‘on loan’ from Durham City. Run by Durham City Council, this took place during the first week in August. A creditable, but unsuccessful, performance in a tough opening fixture versus the Dover Tour club (champions of Barbados and rumoured to include some ex-players from the national side!) was followed by wins over the City Council and Alpenhorn, and defeat to the Luxembourg side Optimists. The rain intervened in our game against Indoor Cricket USA. Unfortunately finals day was on the Saturday and with our loanees on league duty we were unable to raise a team. Sadly, due to cost concerns, the festival was not to be repeated in future years.
2006 found us using the excellent net facilities at the Riverside sports complex, home of Durham County CC, although the travelling distance made this awkward for some. After more problems arranging our fixtures, it was agreed with Maiden Castle that in principle Staff fixtures would be fitted in before the college games, and that Staff had a right to expect of order one home game a week during term. It also marked the retirement of Peter Collins, after 41 years playing for Staff and 61 playing cricket overall – his final game being against Durham City III on August 22nd. There was also an incident with a herd of cows at Coxhoe!
In 2007 M. Deakin took 5-2 in 4 overs against Newcastle City Council.
A series of club awards (best batting, bowling etc) were proposed at the 2007 AGM, and first appeared at the annual dinner that year. Unfortunately written records of the winners only start in 2018 – it is not even clear if the awards happened in those intervening 10 years.
In 2008 we finally agreed to join in the college league, staying until 2011, after which we decided we could not raise a strong enough side to be competitive. However, we rejoined the league with a stronger side in 2015, and we have remained there ever since (apart from a break in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic).
Match fees were raised to £2.50 in 2009.

In 2010, A. Nair took Staff’s best ever bowling figures in 5 overs or less, with 6-8 in 4 overs against Medomsley. This included a spell of 5 wickets in 5 balls! That game also recorded Staff’s highest ever score to that date of 213-6 in 40 overs, beating the 208-4 set in 46 overs against Newcastle University Staff as long ago as 1967. That was also the year we first took a team to the Riverdale Hall Northumberland Cricket festival in Bellingham (losing all 3 games!). We repeated the experience the following year, and did better with 1 win, 1 defeat and one rained off.
In 2011 I finally stood down as secretary after 15 years. Maiden Castle also decided they were to close the grass wickets at the end of the student term – some negotiations brought us a reprieve of 1 fixture during the week after.
In 2012 match fees were raised again to £3.
The club’s paper archive was stored at Palace Green library from 2014. There was yet more tinkering with the match fees – now £2 for those with Maiden Castle sports cards and £5 for those without. This was reduced to £1 for those with a sports card the following year,, but by 2016 the fees were £4 for games on MC1 and £2 for those on MC2, with away fixtures being free.
In 2015 we reached the final of the Doug George Trophy, played at Bishop Auckland, but fell 3 runs short of Gudivers in 20 overs. This was also the first year we played in the Beamish Colliery Cup at Beamish Museum (in period costume with a soft ball to avoid injuring the paying public!).
2017 was our last season of winter nets at the Riverside – we have since returned to Maiden Castle. They was also yet more alterations to match fees, as losses mounted in the accounts – MC1 games were raised to £5 and a £2 charge for away games introduced. We also racked up our highest ever 20 over score of 176-4 against St Aidans B, surpassing the then record of 162-1 against the Mayors XI in 1993. In 2022 we also scored 171-7 against Knights.

In 2018 we had the honour of playing the final of the Beamish Colliery cup at Durham County CCs Riverside ground in Chester-le-Street, beating Knights to take the cup. We retained the trophy in 2019, beating Strokemen of Albion, but this time the final was held at Beamish Museum. Yet more changes to match fees! Now MC2 and away games to be £3. The following year this was raised to £5 for all games (which, due a surplus of funds, seems to have been briefly reduced to £3 just for the 2021 season).
A new highest score was set in 2021, with 219-4 being recorded against King’s School Old Boys in 35 overs.
In 2022 Tony Cleaver was elected chair, taking over the role from Peter Collins. Staff played Sheffield University Staff for the first time since 1973. Although not entirely clear from the minutes, it looks like this was the first year that Maiden Castle charged Staff for use of the indoor nets.
In 2023 R. McInnes-Gibbons became only the third Staff player to score a century, reaching 100 n.o. against Sheffield University Staff in a 35 over game in June that year. Match fees went up again, to £6 per game!
In 2024 , their 75th season, Staff recorded their highest ever score of 239-2 in 40 overs against Whitley Bay. Mention should also be made of V. Kopnar who scored 93 n.o. in just 15 overs against Victory Blasters. They also played a fixture against St George’s Rovers for the first time since 1956. It is worth noting that in the late 1980s when I joined, Staff would play no more that 10 or so fixtures a season, a figure which had changed little since 1950. In 2024, no less than 28 games were played, a figure that excludes those lost to weather.
2024 also saw the club celebrate its 75th anniversary, which included a special 40 over game on the Racecourse against a Durham City XI (which Staff won by 56 runs).
In 2025 a revision of the constitution was agreed, in particular that “Membership to be widened to be open to all current and retired employees of Durham University, all postgraduate students at Durham University, and ex-employees or alumni of Durham University“. 26 games were completed that year, with 2 more started but abandoned due to inclement weather. There were some more run-fests, with Staff racking up 207-6 against Ponteland United in 35 overs. The Euan Squires trophy was fought for (and won) for the first time since 2022, but these games have become more and more one-sided as the Grey SCR team age, and it seems unlikely that this fixture can continue in its present form.