Paul Collingwood

Paul David Collingwood is an English cricketer. He is a regular member of the England Test side and was captain of the One Day International team from 2007, resigning on Sunday 3 August 2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is an all-rounder, who combines natural strokeplay with reliable medium pace bowling. Described as a “natural athlete”, he is also regarded as one of the finest fielders of his time.

His first class debut was in 1995 and he made his first appearance for England in One Day International cricket in 2001 and in Test cricket in 2003. A series of three consecutive match-winning performances by Collingwood at the end of the 2006–07 Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia brought him enthusiastic approval in the British media. His allround display of incredible nerve and tenacity helped to secure the trophy for England.

Collingwood’s form for Durham in 2001 earned him a call-up to the England One Day International squad, selected for the NatWest Series against Pakistan and Australia that summer becoming the 162nd to play for England in One Day International cricket. He was not particularly successful on his ODI debut in June 2001, scoring only two runs and taking no wickets against Pakistan at Edgbaston and doing poorly in the rest of the series. Despite this, the selectors showed confidence in him by choosing him for the 2001–02 one-day tour of Zimbabwe, where he took his first ODI wicket, that of Dion Ebrahim in the Third ODI at Harare Sports Club. He starred with the bat in the Fourth ODI at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, with a match-winning 77 and made an unbeaten 56 in the final ODI, also in Bulawayo helping England secure a 5–0 whitewash.

Collingwood played in all seven matches of the 2002 NatWest Series against India and Sri Lanka, ending on the losing side in the final to India. Neither his batting nor bowling during this series were particularly impressive, averaging less than 24 with the bat and taking only five wickets in the series but he went on to make his first ODI century in the 2002/2003 VB Series victory against Sri Lanka at the WACA. While this performance cemented his position in the England one–day setup, he dislocated his right shoulder while fielding in a pre–season county friendly against Lancashire and was forced to miss most of the 2003 season.

Nevertheless, he was awarded a 12-month ECB contract when the winter touring squads were announced for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. With Nasser Hussain suffering from a bout of ‘flu Collingwood made his Test debut against the Sri Lankans in the First Test at Galle in December 2003 becoming the 622nd Englishman to play Test cricket. It was during this game that he established his position as one of the best English fielders, with five catches and a run-out in the drawn match. Since then his performances in the field have drawn comparisons with South African specialist fielder, Jonty Rhodes.

With the selection of pace bowler James Anderson for the Third Test, Collingwood was dropped. Although unable to establish a regular place in the 11–man team, his all–round ability and fielding strengths made him a regular on England’s overseas Test tours as 12th Man.

He retained his place in England’s one-day side throughout the summer of 2004 despite a knee injury, and scored an unbeaten 79 in the second match of the NatWest Challenge against India at The Oval, with England winning the series 2–1. Collingwood was also England’s second highest run-scorer in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, scoring 141 runs at an average of 70.5 which included an unbeaten 80 in the opening game against Zimbabwe. He played in all 11 ODIs against Zimbabwe and South Africa and was then named in the England Development Squad in May 2005 and the 14-man squad for the NatWest Series against Bangladesh and Australia and the NatWest International Twenty20 against Australia that summer.

Flush with confidence and in form from the tri-series victory, Collingwood and the English arrived in the Caribbean with high hopes. However, two unimpressive performances by the team during the warm-up matches against Bermuda and Australia followed by defeat to New Zealand in the first Group match dampened expectations. This was coupled with the removal of Andrew Flintoff from the vice-captaincy due to an incident of unruly behaviour which led to speculation that Collingwood would be in line for the captaincy should either Michael Vaughan or Andrew Strauss be unavailable. However, all such discussion came to nought as Vaughan remained in charge, despite the reprimanding of Flintoff.

The tournament was uneventful for Collingwood and the English, as he and the team were soon left by the wayside after qualification into the Super Eight round. Unimpressive victories over Ireland followed by a nervy 37-run seventh wicket stand with Paul Nixon to victory over Bangladesh along with a close 2-run loss to Sri Lanka and heavy losses to Australia and South Africa meant elimination from the knockout stages, as Collingwood was only able to manage lower scores with limited successes with the white ball. He did, however, end up as the tournament’s joint top fielder, grabbing eight catches along with Graeme Smith, and took what is arguably his most stunning catch, to dismiss Devon Smith off the bowling of Andrew Flintoff during the final Super Eight match versus the West Indies.

Personal information
Full name Paul David Collingwood
Nickname Colly, Shep
Born 26 May 1976 (1976-05-26)
Shotley Bridge, County Durham, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Role All-rounder
International information
National side England
Test debut 2 December 2003: v Sri Lanka
ODI debut 7 June 2001: v Pakistan

Best Catch By Collingwood

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