Collingwood comes good for Durham
There are few more determined cricketers than Paul Collingwood and he
is now utilising the desire and experience that once helped England to
spearhead Durham’s unexpected rally to avoid relegation.
Myles Hodgson at Chester-le-Street08-Aug-2012
ScorecardPaul Collingwood made his highest score of the season•Getty Images
There are few more determined cricketers than Paul Collingwood and he
is now utilising the desire and experience that once helped England to
spearhead Durham’s unexpected rally to avoid relegation. Apparently
marooned at the foot of Division One when he took over as captain last
month, his best score of the summer has put them in sight of a second
successive victory.After representing England in 68 Test matches, 197 one-day
internationals and having led them to the World Twenty20 triumph in
Barbados two years ago, Collingwood was the obvious candidate to
approach when Phil Mustard stepped down at the mid-way point of the
summer. They had lost four of their first eight championship matches
and looked like a side preparing for next summer in Division Two.This is Collingwood’s third match as captain, during which time Durham
have narrowly lost against Sussex at Arundel, secured their first
championship win of the season over Middlesex and are closing in on an
emphatic win over Surrey, one of their relegation rivals. It has been
a staggering turnaround in fortunes, even for a player used to
confounding expectations during his international career.”The spirit has been excellent over the last few weeks, they guys are
ready for the challenge and we know it’s going to be a hard end to the
season,” Collingwood said. “We have to get ourselves off the bottom of
the table, but in many ways it’s an exciting time because it is a
good challenge and we believe we can do it.”Durham were indebted to Collingwood’s know how, in tandem with the
equally experienced Dale Benkenstein, which ensured they wore Surrey
down and instead of contemplating a narrow advantage, stretched it
into a commanding 181-run first innings lead. Both players scored
half-centuries during their 132-run stand, with Collingwood scoring 78
while Benkenstein’s 69 was his first time past 50 this summer, but
equally importantly it provided confidence within the dressing room
that it was possible to score runs on a pitch that claimed 14 wickets
on the opening day.That was underlined with Mustard and Callum Thorp adding an equally
valuable 72 for the eighth wicket, although not without controversy.
Mustard was given lbw when Zander de Bruyn angled the ball into his
pads but Jeff Evans, the umpire, changed his mind after consulting
with colleague Michael Gough after concluding he had got an inside
edge.Surrey’s irritation rose significantly and although Mustard only added
three more runs to his total before falling lbw to Jon Lewis, it was
an illustration of a difficult day in the field after their gamble to
bat first on the opening day backfired spectacularly. Jason Roy,
possibly still seething after his run out in the first innings,
illustrated that frustration by questioning the decision to give him
lbw shortly before the close.”I think Jason thought he’d hit the ball and we thought the two noises
were two pads, but we don’t have the DRS and all that sort of stuff in
county cricket so hopefully we won’t get too nit-picky about umpire’s
decisions,” Collingwood said. “They tend to equal themselves out
during the season.” That may be of little comfort to Surrey, who
should be expecting Roy to receive disciplinary action for his
reaction.Of greater concern to Chris Adams, Surrey’s director of cricket, may
be how Surrey struggled to develop a partnership similar to that
established by Collingwood and Benkenstein. They are lacking anyone
with that experience in their top order, but from the moment Zafar
Ansari, their young opener, flashed a wide delivery from Graham Onions
straight to Durham’s captain at slip, it was a struggle.Ben Stokes, Durham’s emerging allrounder, claimed two lbws in an
impressive nine-over spell including a wicket with his third ball and
any little hope of Surrey battling back into the match appeared to
have been lost when Steve Davies edged behind only eight balls before
the close.”It was a great effort by the bowlers,” Collingwood added. “There were
periods when we were batting when it felt really flat but we managed
to get the ball swinging and this Riverside pitch always seems to have
something in it.”