It put in mind slightly the left-field dream of Mike Soper the vice chairman of the ECB

It put in mind slightly the left-field dream of Mike Soper, the vice chairman of the ECB, who a few years back said he wanted cricket to take football’s place among the public.Trescothick said: “This isn’t about producing England cricketers though I’ve seen a 10-year-old leg spinner over there who looked useful It’s like that. Brown also emphasises the role of girl cricketers in all this, and do not rule out a 25-year-old leg-spinning female retaining the Ashes for England in 2029.The club will be one of the first 100 focus clubs in the Chance to Shine project year. The Cricket Foundation aims to rejuvenate, nay reintroduce, in many cases, cricket in a third of state schools, some 6,700, by 2015. They are the pride and joy – though not exclusively – of Nick Brown, Durham’s cricket development officer. “They meet all five of our criteria to be a focus club, they have made cricket part of the community,” he said. “I almost got back in the car.”He didn’t and the club now have 14 qualified coaches and 140 registered junior cricketers, of whom 80 were present to receive tuition from England’s finest on Wednesday. They also still have their 1832 dressing rooms (sans electricity and showers) but the impetus of having so many players is allowing them to address that imminently.Their problem is finding enough cricket to satisfy everyone.

“We expected maybe a dozen or so and I rounded the corner on that first night and there were 80 children, boys and girls from eight upwards,” he said. The flow of cricketers from Barnard Castle School, the local independent which is concentrating on turning out rugby players, was drying up; the state schools played the game no longer.Walker got a coaching qualification and they sent out a letter to the area’s schools explaining that the club were starting coaching sessions and pupils were welcome. For many years, this reporter was privileged to represent them and while there might thus be a vested interest, the story is breathtaking.It was a case of the right group of people coming together at the right time. John Walker, the club’s development officer, was part of the initial group who realised they had to do something to keep cricket alive. It was the club’s biggest day since Geoff Boycott rocked up to a Yorkshire benefit match in the town 25 years ago.It should also benefit from some of the cash the Cricket Foundation is making available because it is already working in all 12 primary schools in Teesdale of which Barney is the centre and the focus.

Make no mistake, without the clubs Chance to Shine has no chance of shining and to their credit the project’s organisers recognise that.Until five years ago, Barnard Castle Cricket Club was a friendly, small town club with two teams and some decent club cricketers, some indifferent ones and never enough of either The story is repeated the length and breadth of the country. Barnard Castle Cricket Club was chosen to receive the England players – two will appear at a club near each of the Test venues this summer – because of the work it has already done in promoting the game among the young. The admirable manner in which Trescothick and Jones went about their task was evidence that this is not merely lip service. They arrived as distant heroes for their deeds on the field and after two hours left as something much more human – though more heroic than ever.PCA in the community dovetails, happily if coincidentally, with Chance to Shine, the hugely ambitious £50 million project launched by the Cricket Foundation to revive cricket in state schools. “Do you get nervous before you go out to bat?” asked one shaver, middle of the back row, and England’s prodigious opener admitted that he did and stressed that it was essential to do so.This was Barnard Castle, the breezily beautiful Co Durham market town, two days before the Second npower Test. It was living proof in an isolated pocket of north-east England that cricket still has a grip on the nation’s youth and that despite the doom-mongers it has a chance of being stronger than ever.Trescothick and his England colleague Simon Jones visited Barney, as it is known to anyone who has more than a passing acquaintance with the place, as part of the Professional Cricketers’ Association community project. Loudon took almost as long to follow up his first-innings 50 with a second half-century..

Marcus Trescothick stood in front of 40 10-year-old cricketers and waited for questions. The first little lad, extreme right, front row and all sincere concern, piped up: “Can you sign my bat, please?” It was not quite the sort of question Trescothick had in mind, although he gladly obliged. He neither took nor gave a single chance as Surrey tried every-thing legal they could to winkle out either Powell or his fourth-wicket partner Loudon, but to no avail.Powell eventually passed 50 after a gritty two-and-a half hours at the crease. Ormond claimed his wicket when he dug one in and Knight gloved the short ball to the wicketkeeper, Jonathan Batty.By then Powell was well into limpet mode himself. But with our form I think things are looking good.” Not quite good enough yet, though.However, it had all looked so promising for Surrey when they resumed on an overcast morning.

After a brisk workout for Martin Bicknell and Jimmy Ormond, the acting captain, Mark Ramprakash, called Harbhajan into the attack.And in his second over the Warwickshire captain, Nick Knight, appeared to edge a ball to Alistair Brown at slip. But despite Surrey’s delighted squeals, umpire Jones quashed the appeal, ruling that the ball had come off the left-handed batsman’s boot.While that decision did not cost Surrey a great deal in runs, eight in all, Knight then clung barnacle-like to his wicket for a further 25 overs.Surrey’s first wicket of the day came sometime after midday, when Jonathan Trott pushed defensively at Harbhajan and this time Brown’s appeal for a catch at slip was upheld by Jones.Knight did not fall until after lunch – the resumption having been delayed by nine overs as rain took the total of play lost to 75 overs, which was increased by a further dozen when bad light ended play prematurely. We’ve been hit by injuries and haven’t had our full complement of overseas players. Mark Butcher, their incapacitated captain, said: “It’s been a difficult start to the season.