Dawn of new millennium was cup landmark for Durham
on four other occasions; 1976,1980,1982 and 1991 and it looked like it would never happen.
In an attempt to break the hoodoo, the county appointed the much respected Hartlepool international Cliff Simpson as team manager. During the season Simpson put together what on paper wasn’t the best Middleton Cup team but the squad clicked.
During the Northern Counties Muras Trophy campaign they built-up great team spirit and momentum, which saw them qualify from the Northern Group into the last eight, where they would face Derbyshire on a neutral green at Kingston-upon-Hull.
Before a bowl was bowled in the quarter-final tie, Durham’s hopes were hanging by a thread.
Traffic problems on the notorious York ring road saw a car full of Durham players delayed and they were still 20 minutes away at the set start time.
At one point it looked like the county president and officials were going to have to play but after a discussion between both sets of officials and the match umpires, it was agreed to delay the start, with a lot of credit going to the opposition in agreeing to the delay.
In the end Durham went on to win by single figures and book a semi-final place at the then Mecca of bowls, Worthing, and a seven-hour coach trip.
The semi-final line up saw Durham face Devon while favourites Norfolk tackled Warwickshire with the final expected to be a Devon-Norfolk affair.
Durham were the only one of the four counties still playing in all the traditional all-white while opponents Devon sported a Carlisle football shirt from the 1970s.
Devon had several past and present England players in their line up. Leading against Silksworth’s Keith Avery was one Robert Paxton, the current World Indoor Singles champion.
It was an early start on a glorious morning and the Durham lads put in a storming team performance, winning on four of the six rinks together with draws on the other two, which saw them home 121-105. In the other semi-final Norfolk beat Warwickshire 125-106.
For the final, Norfolk had placed their faith in experience, fielding five players who had made more than 100 Middleton Cup appearances, with several more well on the way to becoming centurions, compared to a Durham team that had several who were at Worthing for the first time in their careers.
The final was a classic encounter with the lead changing hands so many times that the spectators lost count.
Despite only winning on two of the six rinks, the Durham fairytale had a happy ending.
White-le-head’s Chris Palmers rink of Clavering’s Brett Arkley, Silksworth’s Paul Baker and Barnes Park’s Stevie Johnston picked shots up for fun in a stunning 34-14 win over one of Norfolk’s big name players, former England star David Ward.
That win, coupled with Darlington RA’s Andrew Kirtland’s 27-20 win over Trevor Webb, left Norfolk looking for 27 shots from the other four rinks. They found 16 of them when Bob Thacker beat former England international John Leeman 27-11 but the remaining three Durham rinks held on for a historic 123-117 win and a first Middleton Cup success.
Clavering’s Alan Theobold always dreamt of playing the final bowl to win the Middleton Cup. With the game already won, he got his wish, although the majority of the Durham team didn't see where his final bowl ended up as the celebrations had already started in the middle of the green. Theobald’s bowl wandered up the green for shot.
There were plenty of Sunderland players in the team, Richie Mckie, Ray Robinson (both Roker Marine), Keith Avery, Paul Baker, David Bolt, who was the youngest member of the team (all Silksworth), Usworth’s Brian Poulter, Whitburn’s Stevie Northam and squad member Colin Jefferson (Silksworth) plus of course the County President at time, Sunderland’s Charlie McCain.
As thoughts start to turn towards the indoor season, the Houghton indoor club are to hold a meeting with Sunderland Council and Everyone Active on August 19 to try and agree to a date when the indoor season can start.
The World Bowls Tour have cancelled the Scottish International Open and the Open Singles Circuit have also cancelled the grand finals weekend in November.
The already-cancelled World Outdoor championships at the Gold Coast, Australia, have been put back for a third time to September 7 2021.
There is some good news as Hartlepool are planning to host an open singles competition on August 30. The format will be based on the OSC and the entry fee is £10.