Emirates Twenty20: Paul Collingwood tries to see the positives in Durham’s demise

Paul Collingwood has been urging his team to turn their displeasure into a positive force and use it to take the team back to the top division.

Paul Collingwood, pictured with the UAE team in 2014, is back in Dubai for the ongoing Emirates Twenty20. Pawan Singh / The National

DUBAI // Angry and hurt in the weeks following the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to relegate Durham last October, captain Paul Collingwood has since been urging his team to turn their displeasure into a positive force and use it to take the team back to the top division.

Durham, struggling to meet their debts of £7.5 million (Dh34.5m), could have gone out of business if not for a £3.8m bailout from the ECB last October.

However, the financial rescue package — an advance from their 2017 central payment — came with a caveat: the county, who finished fourth last season, were demoted to Division Two of the County Championship and docked 48 points in the 2017 season. Durham were also stripped of their Test status and given a four-point penalty for the 2017 Twenty20 Blast and a two-point penalty for the One-Day Cup.

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“In the first month of finding out that we are going to get relegated and deducted 48 points, there was a lot of anger around the team,” said Collingwood, who is here with the Durham Jets for the Emirates Twenty20 tournament. “Whose fault was it? Was it Durham’s fault? Is it the ECB?

“The guys are now trying to put that anger back into training and hopefully we can get it out on the park as well.

“You just never know. It’s going to be tough for us, but in the end we are still playing first class cricket, still playing against some very good opposition in the second division and we’ve got a great challenge ahead to try to get the team back up to where they belong.

“That to me is very exciting and I believe all the players feel the same way.”

Durham will also have a lot of positive support in the boardroom after Ian Botham, a former player, was officially unveiled as the chairman of the club last month. Collingwood has not met him yet, but is looking forward to working together with the former England all-rounder to take Durham back into the top division.

“I haven’t seen Beefy so far this season, but certainly been on the phone to him a lot,” Collingwood said. “It’s exciting to have someone of his calibre to be involved in Durham. He’s obviously been a past player there, but having him is a chairman now, his contacts, his experience of bringing in money — he’s done a fantastic work with his charities around the world — we are really looking forward to it.”

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