James Minto: the 16-year-old bowling 87mph for Durham

In the village of Norton, to the north of Stockton-on-Tees in the county of Durham, stands a tree on the village green.

It is already called “James’s tree” because it was on this green that James Minto used to play with his mother and younger brother Teddy.

Minto might not be a familiar surname in cricket but it came to prominence this week when, at the age of 16 years and 296 days, James became the youngest player to represent Durham in first-class cricket, and the second-youngest bowler since the Second World War to take a first-class wicket (after Craig Miles, then of Gloucestershire now of Warwickshire), and - no less – against the county champions Surrey at the Oval.

And at the rate he is bowling – he touched 87mph on his first-class debut – Minto will soon be pulling up trees as well as having them named after him. Surrey opener Rory Burns had a highly respectable 32-Test career for England and yet Minto, in his opening spell, left-arm over the wicket, flung down a bouncer that startled Burns as much as any ball in his Test career. He had to bring up both gloves in front of his face to fend it away.

One ball does not make a summer, let alone a career. But if there was any lingering question about Minto’s potential, it was answered by the next ball. The follow-up pitched on or just short of a length and jagged back, piercing Burns’s defences.

In the generation since Durham were granted first-class status – and even when they were punished with demotion to division two by the ECB for financial irregularities – the county have churned out fast bowlers like no other: about as many as all the other first-class counties in England put together.

Simon “Chubby” Brown, Steve Harmison, Graeme Onions, Ben Stokes, Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse (yet to make his Test debut, but surely about to next month in Pakistan) have taken 500 Test wickets. But the possibility exists that Minto could be something else: nothing less than a left-arm successor to Mark Wood as a bowler of rockets in three- or four-over spells.

Or so his club captain at Norton CC, Ben Duncan says, and he also coached Minto at under-11 and under-13 level.

“James was initially brought into our first team three years ago, when he was 13, as an opening batsman [left-handed] and I’m sure he scored about 78 against Maltby. They weren’t very good, but it was still a first-team game. We had brought him in as a bowler, but one of the lads said he had an immaculate batting technique.

“He had back pain in the 2022 and 2023 seasons and was advised by Durham not to bowl, and we forgot about his bowling. But he worked hard in the nets last winter. We’ve got an indoor school and he pitched the ball up to me, which made me very happy. He’s always had a fairly good run-up and action, but this year you can see the effort and power that go into it. He does a lot of running and has always been very fit.”

When Minto took his first couple of wickets against Surrey, he was bowling short from round the wicket and got them with the aid of the wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson and a diving Alex Lees at deep mid-off. But Minto would not look his team-mates in the eye as they came to congratulate him, he looked downwards.

“He’s a shy, unassuming, quiet lad,” Duncan said. “What’s lovely about him is that he’s so humble. When he does talk, he only wants to talk about cricket.”

Minto’s younger brother Teddy is a left-arm spinner, and a year younger at 15, and has taken the most league wickets for Norton first XI this season. Soon the Forestry Commission might be busy re-planting in Durham.