thanks.

One of a dying breed, an English cricketer with a British accent 😕

aye, my brother has served England well.

And a lovely bloke to boot. I once had a drink with him and the King of Spain before they flew off for a tour of India a few years back. He and Giles were great to chat to – really down to earth, friendly and they bought all the drinks!

Pietersen and Flintoff on the other hand were a bit full of themselves.

Sad to see him go. For a bloke who got into the team as a 12th man who could field a bit, he really made a name for himself.

Ginger legend!! And world cup winning captain!!

Some fielder. Best around probably. Good decision to go on his own terms as well – nothing more painful to watch than a sportsman hanging on too long.

Best fielder England have seen for a LONG time… In fact, I’m struggling to think of many fielders of other nations that could be considered better. Jonty Rhodes of course, but there’s not many others!

And on his day, a brilliant Batsman. The funny thing has been that when all others are doing well, Collingwood would usually fall out of form, but the moment everyone else failed and England were in trouble, more often than not Collingwood rose to the challenge! A useful part time bowler too…

Outstanding fielder and team player, solid batsman especially in a jam, and useful occasional bowler. Sad that’s he’s not been firing with the bat in recent tests – it happens. But we can remember his fine contributions. He, with Jimmy and Monty, saved the 2009 Cardiff test which sticks in my mind.

Vaughny: “The one stat in cricket that no-one knows is how many runs he saves in the field every innings. He averages 40 with the bat, but I bet he saves at least 15 runs an innings with his fielding. And with all those wonderful catches he’s taken that others wouldn’t have, how many runs has he prevented batsmen going on to get?”

Cheers Paul.

really Mackem?

top batsman, great fielder, best England have had in a long time

double post

Warton – not really, but might as well be.

Known him since he was 13, his and my family are friends, when he was called up for England my Dad took my photo off the wall and put a one of Paul up, I might get back the position of honour now.

Odd really, started out as a bowler who could bat a bit, ended up the other way round.

Michael Vaughan yesterday reckoned he was worth another 15 runs an innings in runs saved by his fielding, and that’s before considering how many runs his catches saved in cutting batsman off before their time. I mean the exceptional ones, not the routine. Like these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6fcko3knok

So that’s 4259 test runs in 105 innings, plus we owe him another 500 for those catches makes a virtual average of 45 plus 15 runs per innings saved.

I reckon he’s worth an average of 55-60 – and you’ll see tonight how much the team values him above a perfectly respectable standard average of 40.

[edit] Mackem, next time you see him pass on my thanks….. if just for that Punter catch.

He was alright but not a legend, fielding aside.

i respectfully disagree*

the man can catch bullets.

had a useful knack of scoring a useful number of runs at a useful point in the game.

as a bowler, he took the wicket of mike hussey with his last ball in test cricket.

lots of legends.

(*but i think i know what you mean, he wouldn’t appear on anyone’s best-11 dream-team, he’s not blessed with natural cricketing talent, but he does seem to try to do his very best, and it’s often enough)

I’d take him over Rhodes for fielding and he seemed to be the exceptional team man worth more than bare stats. Its difficult to compare eras but with a test average of 40 he has to be classed as just a good solid test batsman.

Imagine if a team had to allocate a dedicated fielder (other than wicky), but who didn’t bat. Who would you pick for England?

Paul Collingwood!

He has outstanding cricket skills IMO, marred only by some fairly ugly, sometimes dysfunctional, batting technique.

On the subject of fairly ugly, sometimes dysfunctional technique: Mitchel Johnson!

Ah, but the other thing you’re forgetting is that unlike some of the guys who can just bat (‘just’ as in it just works for them, not that’s all they can do), Collingwood didn’t seem to be a gifted batsman.

What made him an even rarer breed, and the kind of player everyone likes, is that he didn’t let that stop him. He got his head down and carried on trying, rather than swanning around playing some airy fairy shot outside off or running himself out in order to get his first run on the board. And he got serious runs through bloody hard work.

Maybe it’s just me, but out of Bell (‘naturally gifted stroke-maker, huge potential’) or Collingwood (not), I’d rather rely on Collingwood to save a game.

very good player. only guy England have had since thorpe until trott and the reborne cook who can dig in and score runs during a collapse. not just cardiff – england got a draw in india because of his batting with the tail.

ive seen him get two centuries for england in real life and hes a good player, and a real all rounder, dont care what anyone says.

He’s going nowhere yet…Still plenty of 20/20’s, one dayers and the world cup for him yet

Great bloke

Legend, and a Sunderland fan to boot!
The best fielder around, took important wickets now and then, and averages more with the bat than England captains Atherton and Hussein. That innings against SA was just HUGE.
What a way t finish – and I hope he leads the team out tonight.
And a gentleman and nice bloke.
If he was a biker and on STW he’d be perfect!

True grit, proper fighter that never gave an inch and got us out of the shit many times.

And a truly outstanding fielder, just google Collingwood catches!

Cheers Colly

Top bloke.The sort of man you would want beside you in the trenches.Before his batting tailed off he complimented the rest of the england batters well.The likes of petersen and flintof smacking it to all parts of the pitch,collingwood nudging and nurdaling the ball around.He will be missed.

Agree with most of the above.

Has battled through the transitional period of english cricket. Anyone that averages over 40 in test cricket is a good player, bordering on great. But as people say the runs he saves and the attitude that he brings to the team as worth more than stats can prove.

He typifies all that is good about English cricket under the current regime.