Glamorgan v Durham: Paul Collingwood rescues visitors at St Helen's

Paul Collingwood was Durham's saviour on the opening day of their County Championship Division Two match against Glamorgan at St Helen's in Swansea.

The ex-England all-rounder marked his 41st birthday with 127 from 174 balls.

But after Collingwood was dismissed by off-spinner Andrew Salter, Durham lost their last four wickets without addition and were all out for 342.

Glamorgan captain Michael Hogan took the last three wickets in four balls to finish with 5-49.

Hogan was leading Glamorgan for the first time since he was appointed skipper following Jacques Rudolph's decision to resign the four-day captaincy.

After Durham's openers were dismissed with only 17 on the board, Cameron Steel and Graham Clark steadied the visitors by putting on 86 for the third wicket, with Clark scoring 48 and Steel 59.

Collingwood played a chanceless innings, and shared a valuable stand of 91 with Ryan Pringle, before Stuart Poynter joined his captain to take the score past 300, and gain Durham three batting points.

However, after striking Salter for 20 from five balls, Collingwood was out attempting to reverse sweep the off-spinner and Durham capitulated after that.

Glamorgan's other seamers, Marchant de Lange and Timm van der Gugten, stuck to their task on a sweltering day and were rewarded with two wickets apiece.

But the day belonged to Collingwood, who scored his 23rd century for Durham, although the visiting skipper will though have been disappointed with his team's late collapse.

"I am delighted to have contributed.

"Maybe I should have a birthday every day! My mam and dad were down and it still feels the same every time you make 100.

"If you keep yourself fit and still have the motivation to play the game, experience is an amazing thing. It's invaluable and what I draw on.

"It might not look pretty in the middle and it never really has done through my career, but as long as you score the runs and get the job done that's the main thing.

"It was a disappointing end to the day. It was one of those wickets that felt slow at times and you never got a rhythm.

"We will only be able to tell whether that was a good score until we bowl on it tomorrow [Saturday]."

"It is a great honour to captain Glamorgan.

"This is my fifth season here and the first year I got here I realised what it meant to all the Welsh guys to play for this great club.

"When I got asked the other day whether I wanted to do the job I said yes straightaway.

"It was a fantastic feeling leading the team out today and something I will remember forever. Hopefully there will be some more five-wicket hauls as well.

"It was hard work and I took the rewards at the end of the day after everyone had put in a good shift.

"I would have batted and it was probably the least amount of grass I have seen on a Swansea wicket."