THE seeds of Durham's outstanding season were sown very much in adversity towards the end of a disastrous 2004 campaign.

It was yet another season in which the batsmen clearly did not relish playing at home, so a decision was taken that as soon as it was over a programme of relaying pitches would begin.

While the results of that are obvious, what is not quite so clear given the low profile he keeps is the impact of chairman Clive Leach. But the transformation speaks for itself.

He had taken over in mid-season too late to prevent Durham finishing bottom of the County Championship's second division with only two wins.

The first of those victories was one of the most memorable and dramatic in Durham's history as Gareth Breese scored 165 not out as they reached a target of 451 to win by one wicket at Taunton.

The following day they made 319 for three in the one-day league at Worcester; then they returned to Riverside and the wheels came off as they lost to Glamorgan - now the whipping boys - by 201 runs.

It was the season in which Marcus North played all season as a late replacement for Herschelle Gibbs, and in the other overseas slot Shoaib Akhtar, Reon King, Andy Blignaut and Shaun Tait played two championship games each.

In a further illustration of how much things have progressed it was also the season when Pallav Kumar, a Sunderland University student, was plucked from obscurity to play two games and another seamer named Tahir Mughal featured once.

Tahir, a Pakistani, was drafted in from league cricket in Staffordshire and took two for 54 in 19 respectable overs in a rain-ruined draw against Essex. He was not the worst in the disastrous list of overseas men.

That label would have to go to the unfortunate Tait, who arrived as the winner of the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award in Australia and in two games took none for 176 in 18 overs, including 26 no-balls.

At least he looked as though he cared as he worked with bowling coach Alan Walker in an effort to sort out his run-up, which is more than could be said for Zimbabwean Blignaut.

King appears to have disappeared off cricket's radar since his two games for Durham, despite being six years younger than Ottis Gibson and playing in 12 more Tests.

The only players with cause for satisfaction in 2004 were Gordon Muchall, who topped the averages with 970 runs at 35.92, and Mark Davies, who was the first in the country to 50 wickets. He reached the target in ten games before breaking down.

Although eight visiting batsmen scored championship centuries at Riverside in 2004, Durham didn't manage any, but the following year they scored six.

This was a reflection partly of growing confidence in the pitches and partly of growing ambition as Mike Hussey was brought in as captain and Dale Benkenstein was also signed after scoring 123 not out in his only second team outing against Yorkshire at Stamford Bridge.

The current skipper has gone on to become the first batsman to top 1,000 championship runs in three successive seasons for Durham.

The first home match this season, against Kent, was the first occasion on which both teams have achieved maximum batting points at Riverside. But while Benkenstein may have had the advantage of playing on improving pitches, there can be no doubt that his overall contribution has made him the best signing Durham have ever made.

David Boon brought about a big improvement during his three years as captain, but he didn't score Benkenstein's volume of runs and was not such an astute captain, nor as good a communicator.

Benkenstein had the benefit of settling in 2005 in the slipstream of Hussey, who also enjoyed the luxury of starting the season with a full-strength team, which included Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison.

Winning their first four championship games that season kick-started the climb to the present heights and Hussey, who averaged 76.71, may well have challenged Benkenstein for the title of best signing had he been able to stay longer.

When unable to return for 2006 he said he felt he had unfinished business at Durham, but he may now feel that the job has been accomplished without him.