Durham's Paul Collingwood dedicates third county title to Geoff Cook
by Richard Gibson
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• Nottinghamshire 78 & 246; Durham 256 & 69-2
Paul Collingwood MBE on Thursday became Paul Collingwood, County Championship-winning captain, and immediately dedicated Durham's third title in six attempts to the director of cricket, Geoff Cook.
Collingwood, 37, has proved a revelation as leader, the eight-wicket win over Nottinghamshire representing his 14th victory in 21 matches since inheriting the job in June last year. He provided the most poignant moment of the campaign after walking on to the Riverside outfield with his tribute to Cook, who was among the cheering throng after recovering from a cardiac arrest in June.
"I know every man in the dressing room wanted to do it for Geoff," said Collingwood. "For Durham to win the title three times in 21 years – many good players don't win it at all – a lot of it has to go down to Geoff." Nine of the team that defeated Nottinghamshire inside seven sessions came through the club's academy, which Cook has overseen since Durham were handed first-class status in 1992. Mark Stoneman, who hit the title-winning runs an hour into a delayed third day, was one of half a dozen born within a 20-mile radius.
It fits the vision that the Geordie Cook had after switching from Northamptonshire. "I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time back then and it has been an honour to be at the front of many things that have gone on," said Cook. "If I can keep that going for another couple of years, fantastic."
The 61-year-old nevertheless confirmed he would re-evaluate his future at the end of the season.
Durham, held up by early morning rain, cruised towards their 69-run target courtesy of a half-century stand between Stoneman and Keaton Jennings, the chase blemished only by two cheap wickets for the left-armer Harry Gurney. He trapped Jennings leg-before and then watched Scott Borthwick clump straight to mid-on.
As with so many of Durham's matches, however, this contest was won in the first innings when the new-ball pair Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth – with 66 and 53 Division One wickets respectively – destroyed the visitors' batting. Durham then put themselves on course to pip Yorkshire to the county crown a round of matches early when Collingwood nudged them to a second batting point.
Unlike Durham's other five home wins, however, it was not conceived batting first. Collingwood admitted to relief when his opposite number, Chris Read, had the decision to make on Tuesday morning.
"The toss was a funny thing because going into the game, for three days I had sleepless nights," he said. "I knew I should be bowling first because the wickets we have played on have got flatter and flatter as games have gone on. But if you look at our strategy we had batted first every time, got 250 and then killed teams in second innings by bowling them out for cheap scores and got ahead of the game that way.
"I was desperate to bowl first but didn't want to walk into the dressing room, tell the lads that and upset the whole applecart. So when the coin came down against us, I thought: 'Thank goodness for that!'"
Durham were among the favourites to go down in April but have upset the odds to claim the £500,000 winners' cheque courtesy of their attacking policy. "If you look at our last four or five performances they have been absolutely clinical," Collingwood said. "They have all been either innings wins, wins in two to three days or wins after making teams follow on. They have been superb wins, not a single close call there."
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Richard Gibson
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