A CHANCE to ensure more of the region’s cricketing talent do not drop from the radar is Durham ace Paul Collingwood’s verdict on the new North East Cricket Academy.
Collingwood was at the Emirates ICG Stadium yesterday to unveil the official link-up between Durham and Gateshead College which will provide training, coaching and playing opportunities in a two-year programme for 18 to 20-year-olds, which will also see the students combine playing with their studies.
For those who don’t go on to play at county level, the course also offers coaching qualifications to ensure that youngsters are not forever lost to the sport.
For Collingwood, this is a fantastic initiative which he hopes will get more youngsters into the sport in the knowledge that the sport itself will help keep them in it.
He said: “I was fairly ambitious when I was younger but I made sure that I got my A-levels. That’s the great thing about this link with Gateshead college in that those in the cricket academy can also combine playing with studying.
“My main goal in life back then was not to become an art student or a PE teacher as I was focused on becoming a cricketer. There were plenty of others that I knew who had the talent but drifted away from the game – you get that in any sport.
“However, sometimes you need that little bit of luck. It’s harsh to say that but that is the difference in whether you make the grade or not. You might be seen on a day where you score a fantastic innings but not on other days. Hopefully, we have a system in cricket where you have more than one opportunity to prove to people that you are a good player.
“I think with initiatives like this it’s a great kind of partnership to have for the young guys to proves to others how good they really are.”
A major challenge with the advent of Twenty20 cricket and the cash-booming Indian Premier League is to keep tomorrow’s generation of cricketers aware and interested of the gamer’s bread and butter – Test cricket.
Collingwood added: “I know from my era, test cricket was always the ultimate for me. However, us cricketers have got to filter into the younger generation that this is still the big test in terms of the mental side.
“Five days of playing against top opposition, if you know you’ve done well, you can be satisfied with your work.
“But there are other draws in world cricket such as Twenty20 and the IPL with the amount of money that’s involved. I see that as a positive. When I was growing up, you wanted to play football because of the money they earned. I hope that youngsters see that about cricket and say I want to play the game. But also we do need to look at keeping test cricket as the ultimate test of the game.”
Collingwood has since retired from test cricket feeling that he’s given his all to that version of the game. And while England have been slugging it out with Sri Lanka this past fortnight, the all-rounder has seen his quality of life improve thanks to his absence from the test scene.
He continued: “It’s been really good. These last eight weeks have been great. I don’t think I’ve had a break like this since 2003 when I dislocated my shoulder.
“To spend time at home and get back to normal living ways. At international level, you’re literally on the road all the time. Last time around, we were on England duty for 287 days out of the year.
“Just spending the last two months seeing my parents, my brother and family has been fantastic. My daughters must have thought I was just an image on a computer screen when I’ve been talking to them via Skype when away with England!”
