Collingwood expects strong showing despite financial frustrations

Durham start their sole first-class warm-up game against Durham UCCE tomorrow morning, before opening their County Championship campaign with a home match against Somerset from next Wednesday.

Since the start of last season, the county have seen Michael Di Venuto and Ian Blackwell, two of their most reliable run scorers, announce their retirement, yet a challenging financial situation has prevented head coach Geoff Cook signing a replacement for either player.

As a result, Durham's batting line-up is extremely short of experience, but in Michael Richardson and Keaton Jennings, two young batsmen who made an immediate impression when they were elevated into the first team at the end of last summer, Collingwood is confident his side's batting hopes are in capable hands.

"It's been frustrating that we haven't been able to bring anyone in, but it'll just give opportunities to the younger players and that's important," said the Durham skipper, who is hoping to complete his recovery from a ruptured tendon in his thumb in time to line up against the University tomorrow.

"It would have been lovely to have gone out there and got whoever we wanted, and bring them into a position in the batting line-up where they could guarantee runs, but we haven't been able to do that.

"To me though, it's almost as exciting to give the opportunities to the younger guys, as we did halfway through last season. That builds those younger players up as characters and cricketers.

"They find out about their game and techniques, and that strengthens the team itself for the future. You don't want to make decisions thinking about what's good for one year - you want to be doing things that are good for the club in five or ten years time, and we're doing that.

"Some people might see it as a big negative that we haven't been able to bring anyone in, but we're not bringing them in so we have to move forward and look forward to the chances these lads will have over the rest of the season and the next few years."

Durham's bowling resources look as strong as ever, with Graham Onions available for the start of the season to supplement a seam attack that could also feature Chris Rushworth, Mitch Claydon, Ruel Brathwaite and Stephen Harmison.

The top of the order is a rather different story, and for all that the club's youngsters will hope to step up and prove themselves at the highest level, there will be a considerable onus on the likes of Collingwood, Dale Benkenstein and Phil Mustard to threaten the 1,000-run mark for the season.

Provided one or more does that, Di Venuto should not be missed, and Durham should be capable of improving on last season's sixth-placed finish.

"We're going to cause teams a lot of problems, particularly with our bowling attack," said Collingwood. "We just need someone to put their hand up in the batting line-up.

Paul Collingwood

"We've lost Di Venuto, who's pretty much guaranteed 1,000 runs a season. You need one of the top six to put their hand up and have a good season to replace those runs."It's a real challenge for someone out there to say, 'Okay, we've lost someone like Di Venuto, but it's up to us to find those runs in amongst the top six."

The challenge will be made all the harder by the state of the early-season pitches, particularly at Durham Emirates ICG, where the harsh winter weather has prevented the ground staff from using their heavy roller.

As a result, the pitches for the rest of this month are likely to be extremely seamer-friendly, with runs almost certain to be at a premium.

Last season, Durham struggled to recover from a slow start that left them flirting with relegation for the majority of the campaign, and while Cook's players are still to have their first outdoor net session, they can ill afford to make another tawdry start with four County Championship matches scheduled before the start of May.

"You need to get off to a good start because of the amount of games that are in April and May," said Collingwood. "You want to get that momentum early and be 100 per cent on the ball right from the start.

"That's the hard thing when you've had weather around like this, and with the season starting so early, it puts a lot of people under pressure.

"It'll be important to carry forward the momentum from the end of last season. I think everybody will remember the strategies we used at the end of last season, and the tactical side of the game that worked so well for us. I'm sure the bowlers in particular will have fond memories of how we went about things at the back end of last year."