A Hundred Years On

Ashbrooke's Finest Day - June 9, 1926

As an incredibly exciting Ashes series comes to a close, (see below) club archivist Keith Gregson reflects on a fascinating historical link between Ashbrooke and Australian cricket.With the advent of the 1926 Australians came Ashbrooke's finest day. The date was June 9th 1926, the Wednesday before the first test at the Oval. The weather was ideal for cricket - 'the hot rays of the sun tempered by a cool breeze'. The crowds streamed in and, unbelievably, when one considers the massive sweep of Ashbrooke, the gates had to be closed. In something of an understatement, a local reporter noted, ‘the spacious ground was crowded’. At one point on that first day, there were at least 25,000 spectators in the ground, (15,000 more than at the Oval on the following Saturday). Many more were locked out and some even stood with binoculars on top of the nearby Tunstall Hills. Durham folk, fresh from the General Strike and still enduring the early days of the miners’ strike, had turned up in droves. Why so many? Was it the cheap gate of 1/- for miners and unemployed or the cheap LNER travel tickets within eighty miles of Sunderland? Was it the fact that Durham - and specifically Durham - was the only minor county to be on the Australian itinerary? Or was it simply the cricket?

For the rest of this article go to All Posts and scroll down to September 25 2019