The Ben Stokes show rolled into Derby on a pulsating second day of the County Championship match between Derbyshire and Durham at the OurCoop County Ground.
The former England captain delivered another top all-round performance, scoring 53 with 11 fours and then taking a wicket with his first ball.
He had figures of 2-14 but then pulled up at the start of his fifth over and had to leave the field although he was back on before the close.
Ben Aitchison starred for the hosts, taking 5-70 to bowl the Division Two leaders out for 283 which included half-centuries from Alex Lees and Graham Clark.
That looked an even better score when Derbyshire collapsed to 127-6, 156 behind, with Matthew Potts and Will Rhodes both taking two wickets.
The prospect of seeing Stokes bat put a few on the gate and it was not long before he was striding to the middle.
Aitchison was getting the ball to nip around and he moved one in to trap David Bedingham lbw in the third over of a sunny morning.
Stokes edged his second ball just short of the slips but a lofted drive off Brett Randell suggested he was in the mood to repeat his hundred on this ground in the One-Day Cup last month.
Aitchison had Lees dropped on 58 by Brooke Guest diving across first slip, and he beat Stokes, who responded by glancing the next ball to the fine leg boundary.
Stokes moved into Bazball mode when he dropped to one knee to drive Nick Potts gloriously through the covers before a dismissive pull brought him another boundary.
It was, however, far from a smooth ride, with a clip off Anuj Dal just evading mid-wicket before an edge through the slips took him to a 56-ball fifty, before Dal pouched a leading edge in his follow-through to reduce Durham to 182-5.
Clark mirrored Stokes, hitting two sixes in a 57-ball half-century and with Ollie Robinson, took Durham to 260 before the second new ball gave the game another twist.
Aitchison got the rewards he deserved when he had Clark caught at second slip to end a stand of 78 from 129 balls and then beat Robinson’s drive.
Both Brydon Carse and Potts went cheaply, the latter bowled by a beauty from Aitchison who became the first Derbyshire bowler for 61 years to take five wickets in an innings in four consecutive first-class matches.
Durham had lost their last five wickets for 23 and Derbyshire’s openers soon discovered there was plenty there for the pace bowlers.
Harry Came and Caleb Jewell were beaten numerous times by Potts and Carse but clung on until Stokes inevitably broke through.
His first ball drew Came into a defensive push which flew to third slip and in his fourth over he swung one in to beat Jewell’s drive as he went for 28.
There was concern when Stokes went off feeling his lower left side but was back on after Rhodes removed Wayne Madsen.
Rhodes then tempted Matthew Montgomery (28) into a drive before Potts struck twice late on, removing Martin Andersson for 21 and Guest for one as Durham again demonstrated their promotion ambitions.
Report by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.
Yorkshire secured second spot in Group B with a seven-wicket win over Essex to book a home quarter-final at York on Friday.
Captain Dom Bess (3-32) and seamer Ben Coad (3-22) helped bowl out already-eliminated Essex for 151 inside 41 overs.
The Tykes then slipped to 15-2, but a second first-team half-century for England Under-19s man Will Bennison, who hit 60 off 59 balls, helped the visitors to their sixth win in eight group matches with more than 18 overs to spare – and a second quarter-final place in successive seasons.
Durham gained third place in the group but not before some late dramatic twists against the holders Worcestershire at New Road.
Worcestershire won the game by 77 runs on the back of being bowled out for a competitive 291, thanks largely to Tom Taylor’s quickfire 86.
Ben McKinney then plundered 82 from just 70 balls but when he was out with Durham on 141-6, they still needed a further 63 to be sure of finishing above the hosts in the group.
When three more wickets went down in eight balls for the addition of just five runs, at 199-9, Durham still needed five more to reach that initial target of 204. They got them but not long before being bowled out for 214.
Hampshire had their hopes of reaching the knockout stages for a fifth successive year ended by Derbyshire in a thriller at Southampton.
Martin Andersson made 125, his fourth hundred of the summer across all formats, enjoying century stands with Harry Came (62) and Brooke Guest (67) as Derbyshire totalled 317-5.
Coming to the crease at 134-6, with 183 still required, he smashed 10 sixes in a 63-ball 110, his maiden professional century at the age of 26, before being caught on the boundary edge with nine runs still needed as Hants were bowled out for 309, with 10 overs to spare.
James Cracknell shared a third-wicket partnership of 202 with Nathan Fernandes (92) as Middlesex recovered from losing two early wickets to post a formidable 354-8 as they cruised to a 92-run win over Sussex at Radlett.
Half-centuries by former Middlesex man John Simpson (65) and Oli Carter (58) enabled Sussex to mount a respectable reply, but they were dismissed for 262 to finish bottom of Group B with just one win.
Ben Stokes is set to play for the first time since retiring from international cricket by appearing for Durham at Derbyshire on Tuesday.
The former England captain will be part of the opening round of matches in the One-Day Cup – the day The Hundred begins.
Stokes announced an abrupt retirement from international cricket during England’s third Test against New Zealand last month.
Before that match, 35-year-old Stokes missed the second Test during an investigation into an incident in a London nightclub.
In his period away from the England team, the all-rounder played in Durham’s County Championship match against Northamptonshire.
Although Stokes said he had developed “negative feelings” around playing for England, he said his time back in county cricket rekindled his love for the game.
“Being back at Durham, when I wasn’t playing in the second Test, I found a new lease of life for the game, but unfortunately I just couldn’t get that feeling back,” said Stokes.
“I’m very excited about the next part of what I get to do. Going back to playing for my boyhood club Durham, I’m comparing this week to that week – right now I am buzzing.
“But there have been moments this week that have been really tough and it just adds to everything and it makes it clear that I’ve made the right decision.”
After playing in the One-Day Cup, Stokes could feature again in the Championship before the end of the season.
The timing of his return means a clash with the launch of the revamped version of The Hundred.
This season is the first since stakes in the eight franchises were sold to investors for about £520m, resulting in some new team names, branding and players earning more money.
Stokes did not enter the auction and was scheduled to play for Durham in the One-Day Cup before he announced his retirement.
Depending on the extent of his involvement, Stokes, perhaps the most high-profile cricketer in the country, could find himself playing at some intimate venues.
Durham have home games scheduled at South Northumberland Cricket Club in Gosforth and Darlington CC. Their away trip to Yorkshire is at York CC.
Stokes has not played any 50-over cricket since the 2023 World Cup, which was also his last limited-overs game for England.
The game at Derby will mark the first time Stokes has played a domestic one-day fixture for Durham in 12 years.
His most recent 50-over game for Durham was their victory over Warwickshire in the 2014 One-Day Cup final. Then aged 23, he made 164 in the semi-final win over Nottinghamshire.
Stokes’ last domestic 50-over cricket anywhere was a stint playing for Canterbury in New Zealand in 2017, during the period when he missed England’s Ashes tour of Australia following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub.
Since Stokes’ retirement from international cricket, Brendon McCullum has been sacked as England Test coach.
McCullum said he had received “nice messages” from Stokes since the announcement.
Booming Hans Zimmer-style cinematic music reaches a crescendo, shaking my bones. Two turquoise macaws swoop within an inch of my hair and join a sky filled with nearly 250 birds. Hawks, kites, pelicans, and an owl soar and swoop around a pagan-looking wooden circle. Peacocks fuss at the makeshift river below, coaxed by two actors telling the story of humans’ relationship with nature. Grey clouds roll in, dark with rain. After all, we are risking an open-air performance in north-east England. I’m at a preview of Kynren: the Storied Lands, the latest gloriously unrestrained project in the market town of Bishop Auckland, 12 miles south of Durham.
I grew up near Bishop Auckland, which was once an important coal-mining and railway town. Last time I was here, its centre was dominated by discount stores. If, in 2003, you’d told teenage me that the high street would become an ode to art, history and culture, I would have laughed. Well, I would have grunted and turned up the Nu metal on my MP3 player.
The Spanish Gallery inside Auckland Palace features work by El Greco and Velázquez. Photograph: The Auckland Project
This madcap renaissance is down to one couple. In 2012, investment banker Jonathan Ruffer rescued Francisco de Zurbarán’s celebrated series Jacob and His Twelve Sonsfrom the sale of Auckland Palace. Needing somewhere to house the paintings, he ended up buying Auckland Palace too. He and his wife Jane Ruffer could have followed centuries of previous owners, closed the doors and kept the paintings to themselves. Instead, they set up a charity and opened up the palace and its beautiful gardens to the public. Thus began the complete renovation of Bishop Auckland.
The palace itself is a vision of grand, gothic architecture dating from the late 12th century. In St Peter’s chapel, the stone archways and a painted wooden ceiling make you feel as if you have stepped into the middle ages. The lifesized Zurbarán paintings remain on the dining room walls as a stream of visitors peruse the preserved stately rooms, guided by volunteer attendants.
“We employ 201 staff,” says Harry Sinclair, public relations officer at the Ruffers’ Auckland Project, as he guides us through the estate. “Around 80% come from a 10-mile radius, so we’re very much leading the circular economy. It’s about regenerating the town through its culture and heritage.”
After procuring the palace, the project grew arms and legs, becoming the Auckland Project, a regeneration charity dedicated to remodelling Bishop Auckland. As well as running the palace and gardens, the initiative built two art galleries and a lookout tower, and preserved a local heritage railway and Roman fort.
The galleries – one dedicated to mining art from County Durham, the other to the golden age of Spanish art – are not the ramshackle, fossil-packed local museums of my childhood school trips, but sleek galleries with ink-black walls and , boasting works by El Greco and Velázquez. Back outside, the drizzle clinging to my skin brings me back to Earth, but the striking viewing tower dominating the centre like the skeleton of a cathedral is another sight I never thought I’d see in Bishop Auckland. “Altogether we call it a slightly bonkers day out,” says Sinclair.
The setting for the new show is picturesque. Photograph: Will Walker/North News and Pictures
He tells me about the 59-bedroom hotel the project is building on the market place. He says it should increase footfall and dwell time in the town centre, with 1.5 million visitors expected each year from 2029. The hotel could create up to 95 jobs. There are already self-catering cottages in a neat line outside Auckland Palace and boutique accommodation at the Park Head Hotel.
But most ambitious of all is the jaw-dropping Kynren project. In 2013, the Ruffers bought Flatts Farm – about 100 hectares (250 acres) outside Bishop Auckland – and every summer since 2016, have hosted a glorious night show telling 2,000 years of English history to audiences of up to 8,000 people. More than 1,000 local volunteers work to create an extravaganza with horseback cavalry, sword fighting, working steam locomotives and boats gliding across a human-made lake, culminating in a dazzling firework display.
And next week, Kynren: the Storied Lands is opening during the day, too, as a live-show theme park for the first time. The arena, where my sneak peek at the new Lost Feather show takes place, is impressive. Huge wooden branches are stacked haphazardly into a circular nest so convincing I expect an eagle chick the size of a bus to emerge. During the show, birds pop out of hidden doors above the audience and swoop overhead, coaxed by handlers in medieval-style tunics.
It doesn’t always go to plan. One kestrel flies off into the nearby forest, and a tawny owl refuses to perform; its wide yellow eyes staring out at an audience delighted by its misbehaviour. Each mishap only adds to the joy of the experience. “That’s the beauty of live performance,” Anna Warnecke, CEO of Kynren, says. “There’s an electric sense of adrenaline that you don’t get from watching the same thing on a screen.” She’s right. By the end of the show, we’re holding a collective breath and there’s heartfelt applause and laughter when the kestrel returns from the distant woodland to the gloved arm of its handler.
The Auckland Tower in the heart of town. Photograph: travelibUK/Alamy
The Lost Feather is one of six live shows running throughout the day until mid-September. The other five performances are in equally elaborate auditoriums. The Legend of the Wear (a re-telling of the local Lambton Worm myth) features live action water stunts on a lakeside stage. At Land of the Vikings you walk through a working village, interacting with actors to the sound of clanging metal from the forge before distant drumming signals the start of the show in the boat-like arena. Expect big beards, the clash of shields and axes, fire, and a lot of Viking roaring.
“We wanted to create a visitor destination,” Anna says. “People aren’t going to travel that far for a single 90-minute show like Kynren. So the daytime performances give people a reason to spend all day here.” There’s certainly plenty to stay for at Bishop Auckland these days. Apart from epic bird shows and recreated Viking raids, a fascinating palace, Spanish masterworks, a Roman fort, deer park and heritage railway line, the original Kynren spectacular still runs on Fridays and Saturdays between July and September.
This is not just a “slightly bonkers day out”; it’s a testament to unbridled ambition. I think even my sulking 16-year-old self would be secretly in awe of what Bishop Auckland has achieved.
The trip was provided by Visit County Durham. Kynren: the Storied Lands day show runs from 18 July until 12 September (£30 adult, £20 child, kynren.com). Auckland Palace (£20, children under 4 free, aucklandproject.org) is open 10.30am-4pm, Wednesday to Sunday and bank holiday Mondays
Stokes’ future as Test captain is uncertain with England head coach Brendon McCullum not offering any guarantees when he faced the media on Monday.
But Stokes has the full backing of Australian Campbell, who has been unimpressed at how his player has been treated since news of the incident in a London nightclub emerged last week.
“Ben knows he made a mistake and broke the curfew, but some of the reaction has been a little over,” Campbell added.
“I’m a bit old school, I like a beer after a game of cricket if you’ve got 10 days off but I’m not the coach, I don’t run that system.”
Stokes played two county games for Durham in the run-up to the New Zealand series and Campbell has already suggested he has a “75% chance” of featuring against Northants.
With his availability for the third Test at Trent Bridge, starting on 25 June, uncertain, the four-day Championship game could be Stokes’ last red-ball cricket before the Test series with Pakistan in mid-August.
“Ben is a competitor and he loves to play and he wants to play,” Campbell said. “He put his hand up and said he made a mistake.
“From what I’ve seen, he’s in good spirits, he’s back in training, working hard and the rest will take care of itself.”
