Darren Lunney Profile

Darren Lunney

Head Coach

Career

Darren Lunney: Debut 1999. Youth Teams Administrator and Head Coach

Once upon a time Darren was regarded as the club’s answer to Paul Collingwood, in that they both hailed from Durham and you wouldn’t want to rely on their batting too much although you’d be glad to have them on your side in the field.

However, these days Collingwood is a regular test player and the captain of England’s one day team and Lunney has been exposed as being born on the Rhein not the Tyne. Yet the Geordie German has been a revelation in 2007 with a soaring batting average and a new-found ability to contribute priceless runs.

Motivated by a dismal season in 2006 where his batting bordered on the rancid, Lunney finally took the plunge and splashed out on a pair of new bats and has reaped the dividends as opponents have been forced to reap the whirlwind brought by Lunney’s flashing blades. He has become a regular on both days of the weekend and is comfortably the most improved player at the club. Cynics might argue that is because he had the most room for improvement (although that would be ignoring the claims of Wayne Cutts) but there’s no doubt that Lunney has been transformed since signing his lucrative sponsorship deal with Gray Nicholls and his batting is now more valuable than his speed between the wickets.

Despite his dramatic transformation as a batsman, the Tyneside Tenko continues to frustrate in the field. Too often he manages to turn the undroppable chance into a shelled opportunity, much to the disgust of his captain. His speed is his greatest asset in the field and he is ever-willing to don the keeper’s gloves in an emergency even though some of his performances suggest that he should only go behind the stumps after dialing 999.

A former captain of the club, Lunney helped repair some of the damage inflicted by a previous regime when he masterminded promotion from the bottom tier of the Millman League in his only season in charge.

Like any self-respecting northerner, Lunney keeps in shape during the off season by racing whippets, often allowing them a 20-yard head start before scorching past them down the home straight.