Its hard to fault the move. Having captained England to T20 World Cup success and been an integral part of the national side for the best part of a decade, he has a fine track record. My only concern was his fitness, but he seems to have come through early season surgery well and is back scoring runs and taking wickets (though he's had a poor batting campaign in this year's T20).His bowling is still a useful weapon and he is one of the best fielders in the world game. As a batsman it may well be that he is slightly past his peak, but at 35 he should still have runs in the locker. A landmark signing? Yeah, I think so, if it happens. It has the added appeal of potentially allowing for an overseas player too, though that would be something to clarify further down the line.
His agent, former Lancashire batsman Neil Fairbrother, says that the player is likely to be reluctant to leave. He has been with Durham all his days, but one would expect the possibilities at Derbyshire, not that far away, must be of some interest to him. Having retired from international cricket, does he really want to sidle off into the sunset scoring a few runs here and there for Durham, or is he ready for another challenge?
Money is unlikely to be an issue. I would guess that a player of his stature would command £150-200K a season, but I have little doubt that Chris Grant could get other people to help cover some of that sort of money with him. Grant could probably do it himself, but this is the sort of venture that Peter Gadsby may also be interested in. Unless the player's demands got into the silly territory, I can't see finance being the stumbling block and Grant said in his blueprint announcement that the restructuring allowed for more money on a big name.
It will be down to the player and what Durham have to offer. If they have a coaching role in mind for him in the future my guess is that he would stay. Yet the lure of turning Derbyshire into a club like Durham, using his twenty years of experience there, might just be the challenge that he needs at the end of his career.
It might well be a real coup for Derbyshire too. I will await developments, like the rest of you, with considerable interest.
take it from me, if he comes, which i do not think for one second he will, his wage will have to come out of the cricket budget, Grant and Gadsby will not pay him
ReplyDeleteIf it is not another Chris Grant publicity stunt then my first thought would be that having someone in the dressing room being paid around roughly 5 times what the others are on might be a problem with the other players. Yes Collingwood is a great professional but by the end of the reported 3 year deal he would be almost 40 years-old. At present he still has a bit to offer but at the reported £180,000 a year I think that we might be better to get a decent player for about £100,000 per year and maybee pay some of the existing players a little more so they will stay.
ReplyDeleteIve got mixed feelings about this peakfan. First of all,i wouldn,t mind Collingwood as a player,in principal,but...He will be 36 early next season and with the best will in the world his powers are now in decline. Still useful,yes,but on the sort of salary you are suggesting he has to be a bit better than useful.
ReplyDeleteI just wonder what sort of return we may get on our investment. He has to produce at least 1500 runs and take 50 wickets a season to justify those sort of wages. Anthing less would have to be deemed as unsatisfactory. It,s alot of money for someone in the twilight of their career and the pressure will be on him to perform. As someone else said,how will the other players react to a player commanding such a high salary? What will his fitness be like come years two and three?. I would assume he will be required to participate in all forms of the game. Is he still capable?.
If we did sign him i would certainly hope it would be in addition to a quality overseas player and not instead of one. If so,then i can see some merit in it and i would support the move. Im not sure i would go so far as calling it landmark though.
My question is; has Karl Krikken indentified Collingwood as the man we want or is Chris Grant now picking the team aswell?
ReplyDeleteI'd have thought Krikk would be heavily involved in the decision. He knows his cricket and the chairman will respect that.
ReplyDelete