Dismissed at home as a “bits and pieces player,” ridiculed by Shane Warne in Australia and vilified for his actions in a one-day match against New Zealand, Paul Collingwood has endured a series of trials by fire.
Through an admirably equable temperament, strength of character and a dedicated work ethic, he has prevailed to become a permanent member of the Test side and to emerge triumphant last Sunday as the first England captain to win a global one-day tournament.
Less than a year after they were upset by the Netherlands at Lord’s in the opening match of the second Twenty20 World Cup, England defeated Australia with three overs to spare in the final of the third tournament in Barbados on Sunday.
Collingwood, who had previously contributed little with the bat, but who had captained shrewdly and fielded brilliantly throughout the tournament, smashed Shane Watson for a six and a four before scoring the winning run.
At a news conference on the team’s return to England on Tuesday, England team director Andy Flower praised Collingwood as “the epitome of the English fighting spirit.” Former England coach Duncan Fletcher said in a newspaper column that Collingwood showed why teams should be selected on personality as much as talent.
“I would like to think that I have worked all the way throughout my career to play the game that I love and all the benefits that come from the game are a real bonus,” said Collingwood, his face bronzed by the Caribbean sun and showing no signs of either jet lag or the team’s post-game celebrations.
“I sincerely think that you play for the love of the game and everything else is the reward for all the hard work and the sacrifices that you make,” he said. “What you do is to try and become better and better, that is where we have to get to. The England cricket side has to never stop improving.”
Collingwood, 33, played in only three tests in the first four years of his international career, although he was a regular in the one-day side as a useful batsman, medium pace bowling and electric fielder at slip or backward point. The consensus view at that stage was that he lacked true test class in either of the first two categories.
His third test was the final match against Australia in the unforgettable 2005 series, in which Collingwood made only seven and 10, but shared a crucial partnership with Kevin Pietersen in the second innings which helped salvage the draw that secured the Ashes.
In common with his teammates he was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), which inspired Warne’s subsequent derision as Australia whitewashed England in the return Ashes series in Australia.
Collingwood slowly consolidated his place in the test side and in the process temporarily silenced Warne with a double century in the series in Australia.
He then led the England one-day team in 2008 with unhappy results, incurring a ban for a slow over rate and criticism when he refused to recall New Zealand batsman Grant Elliott when he was run out after colliding with an England player.
Back in the test arena, he continued to make runs under pressure and after 59 tests he has scored 10 centuries with an average of 43.62.
Collingwood made it clear on Tuesday that he has no captaincy ambitions beyond the Twenty20 format, saying Andrew Strauss would return as skipper for the 50 overs version.
“A lot of the success we have had over the last few weeks will go down to a lot of the values that Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have incorporated over the past year,” he said.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
RSS