Recently in Durham CCC Category

Graham Onions had better be careful. If he carries on like this people are going to start thinking he is an all rounder and the next thing you know people will be calling him the next Andrew Flintoff.

I'm never entirely sure I'd want to be the next anyone to be honest. I'd rather be the new me, which knowing Graham will be exactly how he feels.

He has enough on his plate at the moment trying to establish himself as a front line Test match bowler. He doesn't need to be living up to anyone's expectations other than his own.

They do not get the attention lavished on our football teams and they do not get anywhere near the same financial rewards for their success, but Durham are an example to them all.

Durham may play in front of small crowds in a small town just off the A1, but they are the flag bearers for North East sport and it is about time they got the praise their efforts deserve.

After years of struggle, firstly to become a first class county and then to be taken seriously once that battle had been won, Durham are in danger of becoming cricket's Manchester United.

England's hopes of regaining the Ashes may have nose-dived following a dreadful opening day's play at Headingley, but the fourth Test of the series will be a successful one for Durham whatever happens.

For those unaware of events at Chester-le-Street this season, Durham are currently top of the Liverpool Victoria County Championship and have a wonderful chance of retaining the title they won for the first time last year.

And their position as the dominant force in County Cricket has been underlined by the fact they have three of their players starring - if that's the right word - for England against Australia in this match.

It has not been the easiest of seasons for Durham, but they are starting to look like the team to beat again in the County Championship following their comprehensive destruction of Freddie Flintoff and Lancashire.

Well, at least they will be until the England selectors, having seen us go 2-0 down to Australia in the Ashes, decide to replace the injured Graham Onions with the in-form Stephen Harmison and Durham are left to get on with things the best they can.

There is no doubt that, with Onions and Harmison bowling in tandem, Durham are a frightening prospect for any county batsman trotting out to face them. They were, at times, unplayable against Lancashire.

It has not been a good start to the season for Durham, on or off the pitch. With a struggling side failing to repeat last year's heroics and empty seats all over Chester-le-Street for their one and only Test match of the summer, Durham's reputation is taking a battering.

It is sometimes called 'Second Album syndrome', the difficult task of trying to replicate the brilliance which brought you so much success and critical acclaim.

It is a frustrating, infuriating situation to be in and one which can seem impossible to escape from as all the things which seemed so easy to achieve suddenly take on Everest-like proportions.

Graham Onions is a headline writer's dream, although I'm sure that did not come into the selector's thinking when they named the Durham fast bowler in the England team to play the West Indies.

If it was, they would have picked his Durham teammate Phil Mustard as well, providing lots of unfunny people with a reason to chuckle about Onions and Mustard being too hot to handle and so on.

In truth, Onions has been rewarded for an impressive start to the season with his county after two or three years on the periphery of the international set up. It is a richly-deserved call up and it will be fascinating to see how he does at Lord's.

It will also be fascinating to see what sort of response it gets from Steve Harmison...

The first day of the cricket season - yes I know it started last week but this is Durham's first Championship game so it's the start of the season proper - is normally associated with overcast skies, gloomy predictions about the state of the English cricket and empty grounds.

So it has been refreshing to see clear blue skies and a healthy crowd at the Riverside as Durham embark on the defence of their county championship title against local rivals, and habitual whingers Yorkshire.

Mind you, the fact most of the media attention in an equally packed press box has focused on Steve Harmison and Michael Vaughan proves somethings never change.