Paul Collingwood

At 47 years old, Paul Collingwood has this physical status:

Paul David Collingwood MBE (born 26 May 1976) is a retired English cricketer who has played for England in all three styles of the game.

Collingwood was the 2010 ICC World Twenty202020 champion captain for Durham County Cricket Club.

He was a regular member of the England Test team and captain of the One Day International (ODI) team (2007–2008).

He is England's first T20I capt. For the first six seasons of his career, he captained Durham County Cricket Club.

Collingwood's batting combination brings a natural strokeplay with a lot of tenacity.

He also bowls with a fast medium speed.

He was also described as a "natural performer" in tests, often fielding at backward point or fourth slips in tests. He made his Test debut in 2001 and was voted one of the best fielders of his time.

He was a regular Test player for two years, but after being selected for the final Test of the 2005 Ashes, he secured a regular seat.

His 206 in Ashes, 2006-07, was the first double century by an England batsman in Australia, and in a match that England lost.

Collingwood's triumphant endorsement in the Australian media came as a result of three match-winning performances over the 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia.

England's "allround display of incredible nerve and tenacity" earned the award for England.

In 2010, he led the England team to their first ICC trophy, the 2010 World Twenty2020.

He was England's most captained ODI cricketer until Ian Bell in 2015, becoming the top ODI run scorer until that date.

England won a series in Australia for the first time in 24 years, with three innings victories contributing to a 3–1 victory. He finished on a high, becoming a three-time Ashes champion.

In September 2018, Collingwood retired from first-class and List A cricket.

Early and personal life

Collingwood was born and raised in Shotley Bridge, County Durham, by parents David and Janet, as well as his elder brother Peter, and was educated at Conne Comprehensive School, now known as Connell Academy. Paul was able to "force his way into Shotley Bridge's Under-13s team at the age of nine" after being introduced to cricket "on the playing fields of Blackfyne Comprehensive School."

His father, who also happens to be a member of the Shotley Bridge Cricket Club, advised him to stop playing football and focus on cricket. Collingwood's old cricket club continues to visit on a daily basis: "He is a fantastic role model for the children, and his triumph inspires others."

He lives in Northumberland, having divorced former wife Vicky, who died in February 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa, with their three children Shannon (born September 2006), Hannah Mae (born September 29, 2011). He is a huge fan of Sunderland AFC. His nicknames include "Colly," 'Weed,' 'Brigadier Block,' and "Shep," with Brigadier Block being a name given to him by Nasser Hussain for his ability to shoot defensive shots; the former is an apparent nod to Shep's iconic Blue Peter Collie dog.

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Domestic career

In 1995, Paul Collingwood joined Durham, his local county cricket team, and began playing first in List A one-day cricket. Collingwood was described "as a bowler who batted a bit" when he first caught Durham's notice. Collingwood's resolve, rather than his skills, that shone through, according to coach Geoff Cook's 2006 report.

In 1996, Collingwood made his first-class debut against Northamptonshire at Durham's Riverside Ground. With his first wicket of former England all-rounder David Capel and scoring 91 in his first innings, he made an immediate impression. However, his early days as a first-class player were marked by steady and modest results with bat and ball: in any season from 1996 to 2000, his batting average was between 20 and 60, with his bowling average ranging between 30 and 60.

His breakthrough began in 2000, when he was voted Player of the Year by the Durham members, particularly for his one-day efforts. Following a back injury, his form fluctuated, but he returned to form in 2001, when he excelled in the County Championship and in the one-day tournament. Collingwood has posted a batting average of 40 four times and set a bowling average of less than 40 on three occasions in the six English seasons since 2001.

Recognising his desire to develop his all-round game Collingwood travelled to Australia for the 2000-01 season, where he played for the long-established Richmond Cricket Club in Melbourne's tough Melbourne Premier League. Collingwood was given the coveted Jack Ryder Medal for the best player in the league at the end of the season (an award he shared), and was the first – and so far only – Richmond player to ever win it.

Durham was first-class status in 1992. The first-class County Championship and the List-A (One-Day) National League both placed in 2006, finishing eighth and eighth respectively in the 15 years since then. Collingwood's batting average was 3/33, after winning Hampshire by 125 runs in 2007, the Friends Provident Trophy was decided in 2007, defeating Hampshire by 125 runs. However, Collingwood's involvement was severely restricted due to his England service, and he made no appearances in either competition.

This was in stark contrast to the previous season, when Collingwood was available to Durham for four of the five Tests before his England recall for the final Ashes Test; he "pressed his claims for a Test recall with three centuries in four innings in the Frizzell County Championship." Collingwood scored 1103 runs and took 21 wickets in just 13 appearances in the County Championship in 2005, averaging 55.15 and 31.90.

Durham awarded Collingwood a year of pension for 2007. Through his charity, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Cricket Foundation's "Chance to Shine" initiative, which encourages cricket coaching in state schools, he selected two charities. He spent his fifth Test century at Riverside in an England victory, and he was also helping the county win the county's first Friends Provident Trophy final, which they would also win.

Collingwood was signed by the Delhi Daredevils for $275,000 during their second player auction in the Indian Premier League, with England players available for play in the second season of the Indian Premier League. He was sold by Rajasthan Royals for US$250,000 but he was unable to participate in IPL4 due to a knee injury he sustained during the World Cup.

International career

Collingwood's form for Durham in 2001 earned him a call-up to the England One Day International (ODI) squad, which was chosen for the NatWest Series against Pakistan and Australia in the summer, making him the 162nd player to play for England in ODI cricket. He was not a hit on his debut in June 2001, taking only two runs against Pakistan and taking no wickets against Edgbaston, and losing a wicket in four innings and no wickets in the remainder of the series. Despite this, the selectors demonstrated confidence in him by selecting him for the 2001–02 one-day tour of Zimbabwe, where he took his first ODI wicket at Harare Sports Club. He starred with the bat in the Fourth ODI at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, and made an unbeaten 56 in the final ODI, also in Bulawayo, assisting England in achieving a 5–0 whitewash.

Collingwood appeared in all seven matches of the 2002 NatWest Series against India and Sri Lanka, losing in the final to India. Neither his batting nor bowling during this run were particularly impressive, with less than 24 wickets on the bat and taking only five wickets in the series, but he did not win his first ODI century against Sri Lanka in the 2002/2003 WACA tournament. Although this result solidified his place in the England one-day system, he dislocated his right shoulder while fielding in a pre-season county friendly against Lancashire and was forced to miss the majority of the 2003 season. Despite this, he was granted a 12-month ECB contract when the winter touring squads were announced for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Collectingwood 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 in Test cricket with Nasser Hussain suffering from a bout of 'flu. With five catches and a run-out in the drawn match, he established himself as one of the best English fielders during this game. Since then, his activities in the field have prompted comparisons with South African specialist fielder Jonty Rhodes.

Collingwood was dropped after the selection of pace bowler James Anderson for the Third Test. Though unable to establish a permanent role in the 11-man squad, his all-round talent and fielding strengths made him a regular on England's overseas Test tours as the 12th Man.

Despite a knee injury, he maintained his place in England's one-day squad during the summer of 2004 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-scoper in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, scoring 141 runs at an average of 70.5, which included an unbeaten 80 in the first game against Zimbabwe. He appeared in all 11 ODIs against Zimbabwe and South Africa, was then named in the England Development Squad in May 2005 and the 14-man squad for the NatWest Series against Bangladesh and Australia, as well as the NatWest International Twenty20 against Australia that summer.

Collingwood took 112 not out from 86 wickets at Trent Bridge on June 21, 2005, playing for England against Bangladesh. These were the best-ever bowling figures by an Englishman in an ODI, making Collingwood the first player to score a century and take six wickets in an ODI. This result surpassed Viv Richards' best all-round ODI effort against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1986-1987. During the Natwest Series ODI in Bristol, Steve Harmison's bowling off Matthew Hayden was another highlight. This catch was included in BBC Sport's list of "Classic catches" in cricket.

Collingwood also participated in England's inaugural Twenty20 International match, held at the Rose Bowl, where England's 49 and the wickets of Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie helped the team get off to a good start in the Ashes pursuit, with a 100-run victory over Australia.

Collingwood was chosen for the Test squad right at the start of the season, but the Test squad was not called into action until bowler Simon Jones was ruled out due to injury during the fourth Test at Trent Bridge. Collingwood then appeared in just the Fifth Test. Despite that he only scored 7 and 10 with the bat in the match, England's "blocking" with Kevin Pietersen in a 60-run sixth wicket stand on the final day helped the team win the match and reclaim the series for the first time since 1987. Collingwood was named MBE and Company in the 2006 New Year's Honours List for his contribution to the England team's triumph in the Ashes triumph. According to some, his humble service did not justify the award because he had only appeared in the Fifth Test and scored only 17 runs in 2 innings.

Collingwood was chosen to tour with England, Pakistan, and India in 2005–06 following the highly awaited Ashes campaign in 2005. He was playing in the first Test against Pakistan in Multan in 2005, but he scored only 13 runs in his two innings and took no wickets. Michael Vaughan was called to the Second Test when he returned to England for the birth of his first child, but he rejoined the team for the third Test against Pakistan. Despite Collingwood's maiden Test 50 and then another in the second innings, England lost the match and effectively ended the three-match series 2–0. The majority of the wickets taken by England were obtained by England's bowling and fielding.

Following his performance in Pakistan, Collingwood was called into the England squad for the First Test against India in March 2006. After injury and sickness respectively to Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, he was called into the England team for the First Test against India in March 2006. Collingwood maintained his place in the team with a stunning 134 not out in the first innings on March 2, 2006, his first Test century. Collingwood also became England's first Durham player to reach a Test century. "MBE?" reads The Times, one of Collingwood's MBE's writers, ran the headline "MBE?" following this innings.

Give this man a knighthood!"

Collingwood stayed in place for the first three Tests against Sri Lanka in the summer of 2006. During the First Test at Lord's, he dropped two catches, but he scored an unbeaten half-century. He continued to make up for the dropped catches in the Second Test at Edgbaston, where he took five wickets in two innings while playing his normal batting style as foil (with Andrew Flintoff) to Kevin Pietersen's 142 in the first innings. He took 4–22, the highest bowling record in Twenty20 Internationals, but he was still on the losing side.

He then completed the series with a crucial innings against Pakistan in the First Test against Pakistan later this summer, scoring his second Test century. On this occasion, he was the most consistent partner, batting for the majority of his innings with rookie Alastair Cook. Cook continued with Ian Bell to complete his 150 before being spotted by Danish Kaneria for 186. This was England's highest score in the series.

In the Third Test at Headingley, Collingwood took his first Test wicket on August 6, 2006, trapping Faisal Iqbal leg before wicket for a golden duck. He bowled a few overs of off-spin during this series, much to the surprise of several, including the commentary team on Test Match Special. In the same match, he claimed the wickets of Inzamam-ul-Haq and Abdul Razzaq during the Fifth ODI against Pakistan in Birmingham later this summer.

Collingwood was selected later in 2006 for both the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy squad and Ashes touring team after a fruitful summer. However, after two disappointing losses to India and Australia, analysts like Geoffrey Boycott and several others began to question the coaching staff's placement of him in the batting order.

Andrew Flintoff's return from injury will reignite the stalemate over which two of Cook, Bell, and Collingwood should be included in the team, with others suggesting that Collingwood will be the man to leave out. The discussion was settled for the time being with Marcus Trescothick's sudden departure from the tour just over a week before the First Test.

The first ball of the First Test at the Gabba in Brisbane was bowled a wide by Steve Harmison, who set the tone for the series. However, on the fourth day, England appeared to be batting toward a draw, with Collingwood, who had been grinding his way to a hard earned 96, stumped. "...skipping miles down the pitch and smacking Warne over his head over a hundred," he said. This was a pivotal moment: England lost the next six wickets for 126 runs and ended the Test series. Collingwood scored 206 runs in England's first innings, winning by a 310–run fourth-wicket stand with Pietersen, the first in Australia since Wally Hammond scored 251 and 200 in consecutive innings during the 1928-19 Ashes. He made an unbeaten 22 from 119 balls in less than three hours in the second innings, and England lost to 129 all out and then went 2–0 down. Collingwood received some praise, but mostly critics reacted angrily when he batted with the tail-enders.

England did not do well in the Third and Fourth Tests, losing both the bat and the paddle, with Collingwood's only scoring 60 runs with the bat in his four innings. Shane Warne of Collingwood resurfaced the MBE controversy with an audible "sledging" at Collingwood's expense during the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2007. Collingwood's result in this Test was disappointing, scoring 27 and 17 with the bat and not being forced to bowl a single ball as Australia defeated Australia comfortably by ten wickets.

Despite the fact that Collingwood ended with a 5–0 whitewash by Australia, the series was ranked 14th in the LG ICC World Rankings for Test batsmen.

Collingwood's first game against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground started on a low note. Despite the loss being followed by a narrow victory over New Zealand in Hobart, the team and Collingwood went into a rapid decline, losing a string of four matches in a row. He missed England's 92-run victory over Australia due to food poisoning, but he recovered to make 106 and capture two wickets in the decisive 14-run victory over New Zealand in the final group stage match. England defeated Melbourne, Australia, defeating the eighth Englishman to reach centuries in consecutive ODIs, as he reached a century and scored the winning runs. His 120 not out was the highest by an English ODI player against Australia in Australia ever. According to ESPNCricinfo, his knock was rated as the fourth-best ODI Batting Performance of the year. He was Man of the Match for England's third straight game, top-scoring for England with 70 wickets and taking two wickets, as well as another difficult catch off the bowling of Sajid Mahmood to dismiss Matthew Hayden once more.

With confidence and in form from the tri-series win, Collingwood and the English have arrived in the Caribbean with high hopes. Despite this, the team's two unimpressive performances during the warm-up matches against Bermuda and Australia, as well as the loss to New Zealand in the first Group match dampened hopes. Andrew Flintoff's demise from the vice-captaincy as a result of an unruly behavior fueled rumors that Collingwood would be in line for the captaincy if either Michael Vaughan or Andrew Strauss were unable. However, all such talk came to a halt when Vaughan remained in charge amid Flintoff's reprimanding.

Collingwood and the English were left stranded after qualifying for the Super Eight Round. Unimpressive victories over Ireland and a dramatic 37-run seventh wicket stand with Paul Nixon, culminating in the demise of South Africa and Zimbabwe's devastating loss. Collingwood was only able to sustain lower scores after limited success with the white ball. Despite being the tournament's joint top fielder with Graeme Smith, he did end up dismissing Devon Smith from the bowling of Andrew Flintoff during the final Super Eight match against the West Indies, making him the tournament's top fielder.

Collingwood and the team earned a strong first innings against the West Indies, as Collingwood's score of 111 tied Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, and Kevin Pietersen, making the first ever team of five Englishmen to score centuries at Lord's. With his second Test wicket, Dwayne Bravo, it was followed up during the opposition innings. During the fourth Test of Durham's home ground at Chester-le-Street, he scored 128 from 188 balls as part of a 169-run seventh-wicket stand with Prior, before being bowled by Corey Collymore. Collingwood was named captain of the England team against the West Indies on two Twenty20 Internationals and three One-Day International games following good form in the Test series, following former captain Michael Vaughan's departure from the position as captain four days before. England lost the first two nations in the Twenty20s but took the second to launch Collingwood's first Twenty20 International series as a captain. Collingwood defeated the other English batsmen by a single run from just 41 deliveries in the second match, with 27 out of 24 balls. The England squad progressed into the 50-over-ODI matches, winning the first by a 79 under Collingwood's captaincy, although the man himself only had 5 runs. He went on to captain the Indian one-day team against India, where they won the 1st ODI but lost by 9 runs in Bristol's 2nd ODI. Collingwood's second ODI was fined half of his match fee for a slowing down. England eventually prevailed in the close battle 4–3.

Collingwood was fined £1000 in the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship after visiting a lap-dancing club prior to England's match against New Zealand. Collingwood led the team to victory over Zimbabwe in the group stages of the tournament, but England, under his leadership, was later defeated by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India, forcing the team to drop out of the tournament before the final stages. The team won the ODI series on England's second tour of Sri Lanka Collingwood. He took the 709th Test wicket of Muttiah Muralitharan, who then overtook Shane Warne as the highest Test wicket taker in the Test series.

Collingwood enjoyed a fruitful Test series away from New Zealand in early 2008, scoring 244 runs from three matches at 40.66, passing 503 times. His ODI game also enjoyed success – 151 runs at 50.33, with two half-centuries from his four ODI matches. Collingwood had a less fruitful home run, scoring only 32 runs in three games, 24 of which were in one innings, and ended the series with an average of 10.66. His home ODI series was one of a lot of controversies. Elliott had Elliott collided with Ryan Sidebottom and injured himself while playing in the fourth match, appealed tensely for Grant Elliott's run-out. Although this result attracted criticism from the New Zealand dressing room, there was another incident in this match (relating to an ineffective England over-rate), for which the ICC barred Collingwood for four limited-overs internationals. This was for the second time in a ten-month absence from England, with Collingwood as the captain and the rest of the country serving overs beyond the time limit. Pietersen was appointed captain by the people.

Collingwood's poor form in his first Test of South Africa's tour of England began in July 2008, when he scored only seven runs in his first innings at Lord's, although replays pointed to an umpiring mistake, not his bat but only his pad. He was left out of the side for the upcoming Test at Headingley, replacing Andrew Flintoff, but he was recalled for the third Test at Edgbaston, scoring a century and giving England a chance of beating South Africa and leveling the series.

Collingwood relinquished control of the Test squad because it was affecting his ability to enjoy the sport half an hour after Michael Vaughan resigned from Test captaincy. On the night before his century of South Africa, Collingwood told his wife that it was time to move. "I've found the extra workload to be extremely difficult," he later explained. It's physically exhausting, and that's both the top and the bottom of it. When I'm playing cricket, I like to have a smile on my face, and I'm not positive that it would have been the case if I'd have continued.

In the second home Test against the West Indies in May 2009, Collingwood was named as England wicketkeeper for an injured Matt Prior; he enjoyed the challenge and was mostly successful, including extracting a catch from an edge by Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Collingwood's form in the 2009 World Twenty2020 tournament was lacking: only 63 runs in five innings, managing just 63 runs. His form in the game's longest version, in which he had hit something like a record, was however more significant. He was certainly relishing his best-ever Test run, having hoarded three centuries in his last twelve innings going into the 2009 Ashes.

Collingwood scored 64 in the first Test of the 2009 Ashes at Cardiff's SWALEC Stadium, scoring 435 runs as England totaled 435. However, this was put into perspective by the Australians, who scored 674 for 6 declared, Collingwood bowled nine overs, and claimed Brad Haddin's wicket was trapped at deep midwicket. England slid to 70 for 5 in response and seemed to have lost by an innings defeat. Collingwood stayed at the crease for 534 hours (nearly the entire day) and top-scored for England with 74 runs from 245 balls. He was the ninth man out, edging Peter Siddle to gully, but finalist James Anderson and Monty Panesar stopped out the final 1112 overs of the match for a thrilling draw.

In the second Test at Lord's Collingwood, the downtonation of chipping part-time spinner Michael Clarke to mid-on for 16 (and losing the ire of his captain Andrew Strauss, who went on to score 161); England, poised at 425 all out, with Collingwood's dismissal. Despite this, England's seamers bowled Australia out for 215, and Collingwood's second innings scored a respectable 54, providing a foil to Matt Prior's aggressive strokeplay (assing 86 in eight overs) and Andrew Flintoff (51 in eight overs). Collingwood produced two fine slip catches as Flintoff and Graeme Swann united to bowl England to victory.

However, Lord's form suffered greatly: his scores for the rest of the series were 13, 0 and 4, as well as 24 and 1, bringing his batting average for the five-match series down to 27.78. Collingwood's batting skills seemed to have affected his usual high-quality catching, and he ended three chances of varying degrees of difficulty on the final day of the season, although he did win by a 197-run win and a 2–1 victory in the series.

Collingwood won England's highest capped player against South Africa in November 2009. He held the record until May 2019, when Eoin Morgan defeated Collingwood during England's match against Pakistan.

Collingwood was the England Twenty20 team's first champion of the 2010 World Twenty2020 Championship in early 2010. Collingwood was in all seven games, struggling with the bat as he scored only 61 runs at 10.16; with the ball, he only bowled one over for ten runs, but his field prowess continued, with his four catches ranking joint-highest for England wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter. It was Collingwood's captaincy who aided England to their first-ever ICC trophy, winning by the winning runs in their seven-wicket victory over Australia in the final.

Collingwood was then rested for the home Test series against Bangladesh, but it was later returned to Australia for a five-match ODI series against Australia in June. He overtook Alec Stewart's record to become England's all-time top runscorer in the format during the second match. Following poor results in the 2010-11 Ashes series, he has announced his retirement from Test cricket.

The ICC named him in the World ODI XI for his 2010 appearances.

In July 2014, he appeared for the Rest of the World in the Bicentennial Celebrations at Lord's. In August 2017, he was chosen by a World XI team to face Pakistan in three Twenty20 International matches in Lahore. Collingwood only played one match in the 3-match series.

Coaching career

Collingwood was working with England and Scotland's cricket teams as coach and support staff after retiring from international cricket. Collingwood decided to return in Scotland's coaching staff for the 2015 Cricket World Cup in November 2014. He later became Durham's captain/assistant coach, helping them win the inaugural 2014 Royal London One-Day Cup.

In September 2015, Collingwood was appointed as the Limited Overs Consultant for England. He was named field coach for the England cricket team. Collingwood will act as interim head coach of the men's England cricket team for the forthcoming West Indies Test series on February 7th, 2022.

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