Wesley John Durston (born 6 October 1980) is an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who most recently played for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, having represented

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

between 1999 and 2009, and the

Unicorns The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicor ...

during the 2010 season. He learnt his cricket at

Millfield School Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding scho ...

and is a right-handed batsman and

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler.

He made his debut for the Somerset Second XI in 1999 and his List A debut for Somerset Cricket Board in the

2000 NatWest Trophy The 2000 NatWest Trophy was the 20th and last NatWest Trophy before being renamed as the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy for the 2001 season. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 2 May and 26 August 200 ...

. He made his first-class debut for Somerset against West Indies 'A' in 2002 and made his Championship debut in 2003. He made more appearances in 2005 and was particularly valuable in one day games. In 2006 he became a regular member of the team. His maiden first-class century was 146* against Derbyshire at Derby in 2005. His best bowling in first-class cricket is 3–23 against Sri Lanka 'A' in 2004. Although he did not score a century in 2006 he did get seven Championship scores over 50 and was the leading fielder with 15 catches. He was released by Somerset in November 2009 when his contract expired. In 2010, Durston was selected as one of 21 players to form the first

squad to take part in the

Clydesdale Bank 40 The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 a ...

domestic

limited overs Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

competition against the regular first-class counties. The Unicorns were made up of 15 former county cricket professionals and 6 young cricketers looking to make it in the professional game.Cricinfo staff
Unicorns name squad for Clydesdale Bank 40
13 April 2010,

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved on 2 May 2010. Durston impressed with the bat in the early stages of the competition, and after an unbeaten century against Sussex, he was offered a contract to play

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inning ...

for

for the 2010 season. After impressing for Derbyshire in the limited overs formats of the game, Durston was offered a full playing contract, and became a permanent fixture in both the four-day and one-day Derbyshire sides. He was released by mutual consent at the end of the 2016 season. Having coached at

Oakham School (Like runners, they pass on the torch of life) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president ...

shortly after retirement from the professional game, Durston is now Assistant Coach for Loughborough Women's MCCU and Loughborough Lightning in the

Kia Super League The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...

. He plays club cricket for

Oakham Oakham is the county town of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, east of Leicester, south-east of Nottingham and west of Peterborough. It had a population of 10,922 in the 2011 census, estimated at 11,191 in 2019. Oakham is to the west o ...

Cricket Club in Rutland in the ECB Leicestershire Premier League.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Durston, Wes Somerset cricketers Unicorns cricketers English cricketers 1980 births Living people People educated at Millfield Derbyshire cricketers Somerset Cricket Board cricketers Sportspeople from Taunton People educated at Millfield Preparatory School Wiltshire cricketers