SKIPPER Paul Collingwood admitted that Warwickshire had “out-skilled” Durham twice this season, but also felt the match at Edgbaston was a game too far for his battle-weary troops.

“With a reduced squad and the injuries we had, this season has pushed us physically more than any other,” he said.

“We got dragged into a relegation situation and I’m proud of the way we responded.

“There was a lot of emotion in the week before we came here, so in a way it’s not surprising we weren’t on top of our game.

“We had been playing some excellent cricket and were motivated to finish as far up the table as possible. We have talked about how to play against Warwickshire, but Keith Barker causes us a lot of problems.

“We have tried batting out of the crease against him, which negates the lbws, but unfortunately everybody edged catches.

“Chris Rushworth has kept going brilliantly and had his rewards, and it was exciting to see how Ryan Pringle batted in this match. He showed good signs for the future.”

Despite Pringle’s success with the bat, he bowled only three overs and coach Jon Lewis admitted Durham need to address their spin problem.

“We won’t be making any signings unless we can find someone from Minor Counties cricket for about £5,000 a year,” he said.

“Ryan will go to play in Australia this winter and hopefully get in more bowling, but we are definitely not in the market for people like Azeem Rafiq.”

Collingwood hopes to spend part of the winter on coaching assignments with the UAE and Scotland and added: “I’m still working hard on my fitness and after playing some of my best cricket for Durham this season I’ll look forward to continuing next year.”