/ Ralph Ellis / 23 July 2008 /

Paul Collingwood bounced back from his England omission to inspire a Durham victory which leaves them looking good for the Tweny20 Cup, writes Ralph Ellis.

Paul Collingwood has always been a battler. He's one of those sportsmen who was some way from the front of the queue when they handed out natural talent because he'd gone straight to the line for work ethic. But that means whenever his career hits an obstacle or two he'll always come back fighting.

It hasn't been the best few weeks for him. He's been banned for four matches from England's one-day team, disgraced for the Grant Elliott run-out affair, and then dropped from the Test side to make way for an Australian roof tiler. But inevitably he's come back smiling after helping Durham into the Twenty20 finals last night.

This morning's papers are concentrating heavily, as far as their cricket coverage is concerned, on the shambles over how the Test team for Headingley was selected. They say a camel is a horse designed by a committee, and Michael Vaughan rightly had the hump over the way his settled side, which had dominated the first Test, came to be so completely disrupted for the second by the inclusion of Darren Pattinson. England are now as long as [4.5] to level the series at Edgbaston which if they can sort out their selection might not be such a bad gamble. The signs are that the muddle over choosing the last side will help straighten out the thinking for the next one. It then needs the batsmen to perform like they did at Lord's and there could be value in backing Vaughan's men again.

At least England will be fresh. Coach Peter Moores has even banned the players from taking part in Saturday's Twenty20 jamboree at the Rose Bowl, much to the anger of Middlesex coach Toby Radford. He's complained to the Daily Express about Moores' insistence that Andrew Strauss can't join up with his county even if it was only to play in the semi-final.

Radford says: "It's a great shame Andrew will not be allowed to play because he was keen to be there. I know the Test boys have had two tough back-to-back matches, but Andrew will get five days off this week then do nothing before he joins up with England next week. I even said we would only play him in the semi. In many respects those are more important because qualification for the Champions League in Dubai is at stake."

The rub, of course, is that because Collingwood is not currently part of the Test side he almost certainly WILL be allowed to play for Durham. So will Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett. The Sun's Steve Brenner was at the Riverside to watch Collingwood take two wickets, and he also saw Harmison touch 90mph in a hostile spell that brought 1-16 off three overs.

With those three on duty at The Rose Bowl, Durham are [1.56] favourites to beat Middlesex to reach the final then [3.15] to win the trophy. It looks a good bet, although beware of outsiders Essex at [4.3] if Graham Napier hits form again.

Five things you might not know about Durham county cricket club

1. Durham are the newest first class county, but the club was founded in May 1882

2. The county was also one of the last places in England to start playing cricket - the first recorded game was between the Earl of Northumberland's X1 and the Duke of Cleveland's X1 at Raby Castle in 1751.

3. Durham were the first minor county to beat a first class side in the old Gillette Cup, and put together a record 65 minor counties matches without defeat between 1976 and 1982

4. The county were the first to adopt squad numbers, marking their first team after joining the County Championship in batting order and then in order of debut after that.

5. Their new stadium at The Riverside - the construction of a Test match standard venue was a condition of first class membership - was opened in 1995. But they lost their first match there against Warwickshire.

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