We've got to take risks - View from the Lumley End

2:45pm Friday 8th August 2008

AND breathe out.

It seems as though the past month or so has been a constant deluge of cup games and controversy, and the last week seemed to brake sharply from such a hectic pace.

The performance away to Nottinghamshire in the County Championship exemplified this with a performance of Boycott-like pace to see out a finely-poised game to a draw.

While Shiv Chanderpaul has never been the most free-scoring of players when the situation didn't necessarily demand it, his refusal to score was such on Sunday that it bored Chris Read into bowling himself, in a manner which conjured up images of your Mam joining in a knock about when you were young and playing with your Dad on a local field.

At the time of writing there are just 40 points separating the entire top division, and it's therefore disappointing that there was a clear plan to simply settle for the draw, rather than showing faith in their own ability and at least make the opposition bat again when the game was clearly safe.

If we are going to win such a close championship, risks will need to be taken at some point in this season and it seems unlikely that anyone can draw their way to the title.

With so much obvious talent and being so well-placed at this stage of the season, it's vital that the team put the disappointments of the last few weeks behind them and avoid becoming the nearly men of the 2008 season; the Darren Pattinson of counties if you will.

This was, of course, somewhat subsumed beneath the events of last weekend at the Test, with firstly Paul Collingwood's inspiring return to form, where he transformed from playing like my aforementioned Mam, to looking like he'd entered some kind of cricketing trance and what must have been one of the least-celebrated centuries of all time.

Amongst the commotion of Vaughan's resignation, Collingwood's which followed was lost among the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the Test skipper's departure.

It seemed almost too convenient for Collingwood to resign at that point, especially as it had come some weeks after England had even played any kind of one-day cricket.

How taxing can it actually be to captain the one-day side during a test series?

Obviously the ECB have desired a unified captain, but on the outside there seems to be the question "Did he jump or was he pushed?Q If indeed he was politely asked to step down in place of the altogether more high profile and some would say glamorous Pietersen, then we can appreciate his loyalty to the hierarchy, but honesty would be appreciated.

The likelihood is that the selectors seemed uncomfortable at the prospect of permanently dropping the one-day captain from the Test squad and if Colly were to hit another bad patch of form, this would make that situation a little easier to swallow.

Perhaps Collingwood's eventual destination is to captain Durham after his international career comes to an end and Kolpak wrangling make it harder for Benkenstein to stay.

But that's for another day and with the likes of Onions, Plunkett and Davies signing new contracts and Steve Harmison finally winning the England recall his form has deserved, the future still looks bright.

Eating Out