Ben Raine rounded off his first season back at Emirates Riverside with the “Paul Collingwood Medal” after an impressive return to Chester le Street at last nights end of season dinner at the Hilton Hotel Newcastle Gateshead, hosted by Charles Dagnall.
Raine who joined from Leicestershire had a successful summer with the red ball, which saw him claim 54 wickets with a best of 6/27 against Sussex, rounding the season off in fourth place in the Division 2 bowling statistics. He also contributed with the bat throughout the summer adding 464 runs to his tally, top scoring with 82 against Northamptonshire, his career best.
Ben’s County Championship summer also earned him the Durham Cricket Specsavers County Championship Player of the Year award.
Chris Rushworth claimed two awards on the evening, picking up Players’ Player of the Year, which came as no surprise following a tremendous season with the ball, closing in with 69 wickets, topping the Division 2 County Championship bowling statistics. Rushworth also got the vote from the Durham members, winning the Members Player of the Year award.
D’Arcy Short won the Vitality Blast Player of the Year award for his dynamic all-round performances in Durham’s T20 campaign. The Australian international’s performances throughout the tournament earned him the PCA Most Valuable Player, finishing with 186 MVP points – 25 clear of the tournament’s top run-scorer Babar Azam in second place. Short amassed 483 runs with an unbeaten 77* against Leicestershire coming in 36 balls, his highest score of the summer.
Cameron Bancroft made the most of his time in the middle during Durham’s Royal London Cup campaign, scoring 377 runs from just eight matches including a best of 151* on his list A debut against Northants at Emirates Riverside. Closing the 50 over campaign with an average of 94.25. Bancroft took the honours and won the 2019 Durham Cricket Royal London Cup Player of the Year award.
Stuart Poynter led the way for the seconds in all formats this summer, which earned him the Second XI player of the year award. In white ball cricket Poynter scored 631 runs at an average of 35.06 while he scored 745 runs in red ball cricket with a best of 102 against Yorkshire.
The Rising Star award went to Scott Steel. Steel had a stunning season in the white ball formats showcasing his pure power and striking abilities – forming a formidable partnership with PCA Blast MVP D’Arcy Short at the top of the order. His 598 runs across the Royal London One Day Cup and Vitality Blast – including four half centuries – made this a successful campaign for the academy product.
A new award introduced for 2019, saw recognition for the ‘Durham Cricket Club Person of the Year’ – awarded to someone who had gone above and beyond to ensure Durham Cricket have achieved success. The award went to Foundation Manager Josie Pointon for her outstanding work in supporting the local community and developing a partnership with local schools, hospitals and businesses. As part of the Cricket World Cup, Josie managed an initiative to take cricket into the classroom and community centres for locals to learn about cricket. Josie leads on the volunteer programme at Durham Cricket giving volunteers the chance to develop their skills in a professional sporting environment.
In memory of Maureen Jackson, the wife of Durham Cricket Board Chairman Bob Jackson, an award was created to celebrate someone within Durham Cricket who has gone above and beyond in the community. The winner of the 2019 award went to Peter Brown, a committed volunteer within cricket in Durham. Peter is the Durham Cricket county age group and North East Premier League appointments officer as well as a long serving umpire within local cricket and ECB 2XI cricket. Following his many years of umpiring and committee work, Peter won the Maureen Jackson Community Person of the Year award for 2019.