Collingwood digs in to try and ease Durham’s nerves

Warwickshire 25 for 1 trail Durham 207 (Richardson 55, Patel 5-32) by 182 runsScorecard

There is the faintest risk of relegation in the air for Durham and Warwickshire, with the whiff about to become stronger for whichever county finishes on the wrong end of the result here. Just the time then with the Championship season at such a critical juncture for Paul Collingwood to stage an encore for Brigadier Block.

Durham’s coach, Jon Lewis, had summoned the squad in on Monday, barely 24 hours after their defeat in the final of the NatWest T20 Blast, for a practice session that he called “more mental than physical”. The emphasis had to switch to four-day cricket and Collingwood, who ground out 23 in 107 deliveries, certainly gave it his full attention.

It was clear from the outset that if Warwickshire got him out it would be over his dead body, only there were times in a strokeless display when it seemed that his death had been a little premature.

It was the sort of Bowling Day that legitimised such defiance with plenty of encouragement for the bowlers in humid conditions and on a pitch that Warwickshire regarded as a bit “tacky”. Only Michael Richardson, who made 55 from 72 balls before he edged Keith Barker low to second slip, and more briefly Jack Burnham, …

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