When Paul Collingwood was first selected for England’s one day side in 2001 it was not a decision that was met with widespread enthusiasm. He was playing for arguably the worst side in the country and hadn’t really pulled up any trees in county cricket, but he must have had something about him, for Steve Waugh described him as the most promising English batsman that he had seen that summer. His international career could have been over before it started, however, with a contribution of just twenty runs, no wickets and no catches in his four appearances against Australia and Pakistan.
Duncan Fletcher, however, had spotted something and took him on the one day tour to Zimbabwe that winter where, playing in three matches, he began to repay the faith with innings of thirty-six, seventy-seven and fifty-six not out, as well as his first wicket and catch. Even so, it was difficult to imagine him becoming a mainstay of the one day side, let alone the test team, especially when the tours to India and New Zealand brought, after an excellent seventy-one not out against India in the first match, just fifty-one runs at an average of 8.50. He did, however, start to show some of his all round excellence with 4-38 at Napier and people were starting to take notice of his outstanding fielding.
He was still considered a one day specialist, however, and it was a surprise to many when he was selected in two tests in Sri Lanka in 2003. Even then, it was easy to make the assumption that he was simply a stopgap who would play a handful of tests, a feeling that was reinforced with his selection at the Oval in 2005, in which he scored seven and ten and was, famously, rewarded with an MBE. This, however, was a precursor to a run in the side and he took his chance with successive innings in tests against Pakistan and India of ninety-six, eighty and one hundred and thirty-four not out. Rather against the odds he was here to stay.
Now he has called time on his test career, although he will carry on playing one day and Twenty20 cricket for a while longer. His retirement has come at the right time, too, for he has looked unconvincing in test cricket for most of the last year and his average, which at one time was as high as 48.42 has been in steady decline and now stands just a shade above forty. He can look back on his test career with considerable pride, however: he is one of only a handful of Englishmen to make a double century in Australia, he has a highest score at Lord’s of hundred and eighty-six and, of course, he has become Brigadier Block, the rock upon which England’s rearguard actions of the last few actions have been built, from Cardiff to Cape Town.
Along the way he has become the most capped England one day player of all time, he is the only man in one day international history to make a century and take six wickets in the same match, he holds the record for the best bowling figures by an Englishman in a one day international, he reached the triple of one thousand runs, one hundred wickets and one hundred catches in one day internationals in far fewer matches than anyone else, he has taken some of the most stunning catches imaginable and, of course, captained England to the World Twenty20 title. Oh, and along the way Brigadier Block has hit more international sixes than Ian Botham. Not only that, he’s achieved all of this while always coming across as a thoroughly decent bloke who also gives his best for the team, with no hint of ego.
Paul Collingwood, we salute you.
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