In Cook’s absence former England batsman Paul Collingwood has taken on increased responsibilities as captain and Jon Lewis has flourished as caretaker coach having been promoted from his usual duties with the Second XI.
“No one knew how to deal with it when Geoff was taken ill,” said Lewis, a former Essex and Durham batsman.
“He has been involved with the club so long that everyone knows his wife Judith and children so well so everyone wanted to help them.
“Then we had to try and play some cricket. It was just before the Twenty20s started and that perhaps gave us the chance for a fresh start before we came back to the championship and the YB40.
“Everyone realised that we had to step up. It wasn’t just the coaches, but other people had other roles.
"People put their hands up and got on with it and the team have made it extremely easy for me in my new role.”
Match-winning contributions by seamers Jamie Harrison, 22, and Mark Wood, 23, and senior debuts from seamer Usman Arshad, 20, and Ryan Buckley, 19, all products of Durham’s second team, have helped Lewis settle into his new role.
“The fact that so many of the first team have come through the second team has probably helped to make it a more comfortable environment for me,” Lewis said.
“We have had challenges throughout the season with Dale Benkenstein being out since May, Graham Onions being away with England and then injured and Ben Stokes getting called up by England and the Lions.
“But we keep coming up with answers. We have probably been under the radar but that doesn’t bother us.
“We are pleased with the way things are going. Paul Collingwood has said that he thinks that we are overachieving.
"That’s not insulting the lads, it’s saying how well that they have been performing.”
Lewis, who expects to hand the reins back to Cook this winter, would prefer Durham to stay below the radar a little longer, although that will be difficult if they manage to inflict a first defeat on Yorkshire since Sussex trounced them in the opening match of the season.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves,” Lewis said. “There is a month left of the season, we have five games left to play which is nearly a third of our season so there is an awful lot of cricket left to play.
“We’re 20-odd points behind Yorkshire at the moment but if we can do well in this one and then win the game in hand, which is at home and where we do play well, then we can catch up.”
